In the not too distant future
by Jamie Hook
Summary: ."Cherie," He said turning to her. "You are in a world of trouble." And he had never been more right. And it wasn't just the merc with a mouth, the MRD, or the warrent with her name on it that tipped her off. Romynessness
1. Chapter 1

If she was being completely honest with herself, she had already expected this when she had woken up this morning. Her mind had been resolute in its decision. Every movement she had made had led her to here. To now.

She glanced at the blade as it winked at her in the light and then up at the man holding it. His eyes were dead.

She didn't blame him; he had no more control over anything anymore, not how to think or move, and the people who had made him this way had been positive to make sure he sure as hell didn't have control over what he said.

Of course she was afraid of him. This was the man who brought a knife to a gun fight and then walked away on top, not that that overly impressed her, she also knew a man who brought a deck of cards to a gun fight… and he was going to be pissed when he found out what she had done.

She slowly dragged a wet gasp of air into her lungs, suddenly remembering to breath and detesting the metallic taste that came with the breath. Though it didn't really matter any more if she chose to breath or not. The sharpest corner of the blade protruded out of her back thickly coated with her blood.

The man didn't blink.

-

_4 days and 9 hours before_

"Anna Marie! Get out here now!"

Rogue started awake, sitting bolt upright and immediately recognizing she was in _trouble. _ He never used her full name. Ever.

The horrible things that could be contenders rolled through her mind as she dashed to the door. It was a short list. Only the really bad stuff got her called Anna Marie.

She barely caught her image in the mirror as she rushed to the door. She was still wearing the five-sizes-too-big shirt that she had worn to sleep, her hair was a wreck, and she didn't have time to grab her gloves.

"What is it, Logan?" She panted as she opened the door, the feeling of dread made her stomach sink and she knew she wouldn't be able to hide that from Logan.

His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was set in a frown… not that that was unusual… he always looked like that… but this was different in a way. He looked livid.

"You have a visitor." He said.

_Oh…shhhiiiiiitttt…._

He wasn't mad at her…

There was only one person in the whole world that made Logan look _that _mad.

"Maybe I should put some clothes on…" Rogue tried to buy some time.

"Oh no." Logan grabbed her arm through the sleeve of the shirt and started to drag her. "If I have to deal with him, so do you."

She groaned.

"Look, kid." Logan cast her a glance that said that it was a little more then the spreading of the pain. "You know I wouldn't even have the two of you in the same room if it wasn't important. I don't like the way he looks at you."

Rogue knew exactly what he meant.

"Logan, I really… reaaaaallllllly… don't want to talk to him." Rogue whined, letting Logan guide her through the halls. "He's so … obnoxious!"

Logan's mood quickly shifted from livid to… whatever is angrier than livid… Rogue didn't actually have time to come up with another word to describe him; she was too busy trying to diffuse him.

"If he says anything, _anything, _that makes you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. If he looks like he's about to think about saying something that might make you feel uncomfortable- I will cut him into little chunks!" Logan raged.

"Logan!" She cut him off with her voice. His nostrils flared and the fury was clearly spelled out in his eyes, but he respected her enough to quiet his voice. "Calm down." She changed her voice slightly to a more soothing tone, assisted by the drawl in her accent. "I promise, if there are any issues with him, you'll be the first I tell." Lie. Big, fat lie.

Even if he did make her feel uncomfortable, as long as he couldn't touch her, there would be no reason to have him chopped up into little chunks by Logan.

Last she checked, she still couldn't touch people, and last she checked he still loved his own skinny ass to much to test that, so everyone would be able to stay in one piece today.

"Better?" She smiled at him and he seemed to calm slightly.

"For now." He commented gruffly and then continued to drag her through the halls.

What on earth could be so important that Logan would voluntarily put her in a room with _him? _

She shivered slightly and quickly tried to cover it up with a yawn when Logan looked over his shoulder to make sure she was alright.

They rounded a corner and Kitty and Bobby were sitting in two chairs, seemingly in wait for Rogue and Logan.

"Hey Rogue!" Kitty bounced up out of her seat and hopped around in a tight circle around Rogue. "Did you see him yet? God! He is so good looking. And the accent! How do you keep your hands off him?" She bubbled.

"I don't know," Rogue admitted. "I guess that's all based on my assumption he prefers himself alive."

Bobby carefully watched Kitty as she giggled over another man and looked completely infuriated. Obviously he didn't care who was in the house, just so long as Kitty wasn't ogling them.

"This has been fun, but Rogue has an agenda to keep." Logan said between clenched teeth.

"Can I come-." Kitty started.

"No!" Logan and Rogue both answered in unison.

Sometimes it scared her how alike she and Logan actually were. They were both exiles. One by choice, one by curse. She couldn't really figure out who was who yet. They were both stubborn. They were both the only people that could ever get the other to do something they didn't want to. But, so many promises had been broken. So many things had been left in a state of disrepair between the two of them, she didn't know what exactly their relationship was.

Logan pulled her around one last corner into the war room and _he _was standing there. She could almost feel Logan's hate radiate through his grip on her arm, even through the shirt.

"_Cherie_," He commented as her turned around to look at her. "You are in a world of trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi- Note from me! I do not speak French. I do not pretend to speak French. I took Spanish. All French located in this entire story was found on the internet. If I make any mistakes feel free to point them out. C: Alright- Back to Story!_

-

Remy LeBeau watched as Rogue took a step back when his red on black eyes flicked down her frame. God, she was beautiful. It was a sin that something that perfect was untouchable.

He heard a low growl that seemed to be radiating from Wolverine's throat and quickly understood the message there. Rogue was Wolverine's girl. He protected her. And since Remy was very keen to stay alive today, he wasn't about to challenge Wolverine for her. It was very important he stayed alive today; it was all part of the plan.

It was also very important that Rogue left this house immediately with him. It wasn't safe.

"What do you mean?" Rogue spoke up before Wolverine could kill Remy.

Remy moved slowly, controlling his motions to make them seem calm and relaxed, when really he was anything but. He reached into the folds of his trench coat and produced a stack of papers.

He watched Rogue carefully as she took a step forward and hesitantly looked at the papers. He knew what they said.

Name. Mutant Name. Powers. Past Addresses. Associations. Threat Level. And orders to Seek and Apprehend. And they were all Rogue's.

"What is it you're playing at, Gambit?" Wolverine snapped, looking over Rogue's shoulder to read what the papers said as well. Remy hadn't told him exactly what was up; he had just been vague enough to get Rogue down here. And now the important part was getting Rogue _out _of here.

"Gambit only play cards, sir." His Cajun accent made the words seem more sincere then he had actually meant them to be.

Rogue looked up at him. Her green eyes were slightly darkened with this news, but she stuck her chin out and glared at him.

"I don't believe you." She finally stated.

"I am crushed, _Mon__chérie__." _Remy put his hand to his chest in mock heart ache. "Of course, that would be exactly Gambit's style, to patiently type up a history and warrant just to gain access into the X mansion, just to confront a man that would rather stab out me heart than actually talk to me to protect a woman who insists on addressing me as Swamp Rat."

Wolverine and Rogue shared a look.

"Swamp Rat has a point." Rogue said.

Wolverine begrudgingly accepted that.

Remy could barely suppress a victorious smile. Now that that was covered. "We need to get Rogue out of here."

Apparently that had been the wrong thing to say. Three blades pressed firmly at his throat.

"We?" Wolverine's voice was abrasive. "There is no 'we', Cajun. There is you, and then there is the X-men. They are two very different things. The _X-men_ will take care of Rogue. _You _will leave."

Externally, Remy feigned fear. Internally, he was rolling his eyes. Wolverine was making a big mistake. She was not safe here. And if she wasn't safe, no one else was safe. And that didn't exactly work with the plan.

"Logan." Rogue's smooth voice seemed to be made of honey and Remy saw Wolverine visibly relax. "Gambit was just tryin' to help." She made an excuse for him.

Wolverine retracted the blades back into his fist and gave Remy one long glare before stalking off, Remy assumed to find the others and warn them of what was going on.

Remy was left alone with Rogue.

He saw that she was a little nervous about being a room alone with him, he intimidated her, but also, she was too stubborn to leave. Even if she was only wearing a t-shirt.

Remy felt his eyes glaze over slightly at that thought and had to shock himself slightly to be able to pay attention.

"Stop looking at me like that, Swamp Rat." Rogue tugged at the hem of her shirt and gave him a fierce glare.

"_Je suis sincèrement désolée, mon chérie. _I couldn't help myself." He smirked.

"And stop calling me 'cherie'." She snipped, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking a hip to fake boldness, but he caught her eyes searching for a route of escape if needed.

"Gambit noticed how you are always making excuses to keep him alive, _chérie. _Could that possibly be because you want him around?" He teased, trying to see how far he could take it before she actually took off.

"Or, it could be I don't like to start off my days with bloodshed." She sniffed and turned the other way.

"Or, it could be that you like me. All the other girls do." Remy smiled at her back- that view being just as good as the front.

"Well, I'm not like the other girls, am I?" Rogue turned back to him with a terrible fire in her eyes.

"No. The other girls smile more." Remy said after a pretend moment of consideration. "Not that Gambit minds, he knows a few ways to put a smile on that face."

Her green eyes sparked with annoyance as they let his cocky red and black ones. It was almost a game getting her worked up. She had such a quick temper and such a pretty face it was better than actually touching any other girl any day.

"You are…" She struggled to find some sort of vile word to describe him and Remy grinned with success.

"What, _chérie ? _What am I?"

"You're…" She was still looking for something. "You're…"

"I'm…I'm…?" His smile widened and she pulled at her hair.

"Obnoxious!" She nearly screamed and then stormed away.

He smiled and enjoyed watching her leave. No way was he leaving this place without her.

That wasn't part of the plan.


	3. Chapter 3

Rogue snorted with fury as she stomped down the hallway.

How could one person harbor so much annoying? Wouldn't he just explode from the pressure of his own smugness?

"Hey Rogue," Kitty leaped up next to her, still loitering in the same hallway she had been in before.

Rogue turned very slowly to meet Kitty's eyes, trying to dispel the murder written out in her own. "That bad, huh?" Kitty smirked.

"Gambit's lucky I didn't drain him dry. Only, that would have required _touching _him. And I _do not _want to do that." Rogue raved, but not loud enough that Logan would be able to hear from wherever he was in the house. Not only would Logan be furious if he found out what Gambit had just said to her, Cyclops, Beast, and Nightcrawler would help Logan kill Gambit in the most inconvenient way possible. This was her family- they protected her, even if it was just from one jerk.

"Uh-huh." Kitty mused, only keeping stride with Rogue by phasing through tables and walls. "You know what I think?" Kitty teased.

Rogue rolled her eyes and felt the ghost of a smile cross her lips. "What?"

"I think you like him." Kitty giggled.

Rogue stopped dead. Kitty half-way phased through a table by accident with Rogue's sudden halt. Neither of them saw the figure that had been following Rogue duck behind a column.

"You think _what?" _ Rogue hissed. Obviously she had misheard Kitty. The very idea of being around that man made anger spark in the back of her mind.

"You like him." Kitty sang with a laugh and phased through a wall into another room before Rogue could wrap her hands around her throat.

"I do not like him!" Rogue screeched, not caring who heard. In fact, she wanted everyone to hear!

Her fist pounded the wall on the spot where Kitty had disappeared and she let out a small cry of frustration before she continued to walk down the hall.

Remy sauntered out from behind the column he had been forced to take refuge with a huge grin on his face.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." He said before continuing to tail her from a distance. If he had to follow her around for the rest of his life, which could very well be reduced to the next few days if Wolverine caught him, he would protect her from the something bad he felt was coming. Soon.

That was part of the plan.

-

"_I do not like him!" _Wolverine heard Rogue scream from somewhere in the house. He turned quickly, ready to run after her, but he stopped himself when he recognized the scream of one of angry passion, rather than one of fear.

Logan shook his head slightly and remembered that he had left her in a room with that thief. Judging by the octaves her voice had just reached, he was going to pay for that one.

Logan wondered vaguely if he was still going to have to refrain from killing Gambit later as continued to walk down to the underground hanger. He had to talk with Forge over security.

This had been the second time that man had snuck on to the X Mansion. Though he had been a bit more direct when he had actually entered the mansion- if Gambit could get in a few minutes, the MRD could probably get in within an hour… two tops.

He flexed his fingers and took a few deep, angry breaths in the elevator, resisting the urge to break something. Rogue was in trouble, and even though he had broken some promises to her he had always kept one. He had promised to keep her safe.

And today sure as hell wasn't the day he was going to break that promise.

The date on the warrant had been marked for yesterday afternoon. The MRD was coming. Soon.

"Cyclops," Logan called out with his communicator.

"Yeah?" Came the answer shortly.

"Get Nightcrawler and go check on Rogue. Make sure all of the sensors in her room are still active."

"Why?" Cyclops replied after a moments pause.

"Just do it!" Wolverine snapped.

"Storm." He reached out again.

"Yes, Logan?" The thickly accented voice responded.

"Quickly do a perimeter check and make sure that Gambit has left."

"Logan…" Storm's voice was full of concern.

"Don't argue." Logan commanded and then clicked off the communicator.

This was going to be a long day.

"Forge!" Logan yelled for the scientific mutant when the elevator doors opened.

"Oh Jesus! You already saw!" Forge sat straight up and the panicked look on his face drove the thoughts of reminding him of security from his mind.

"Saw what?" Logan said hesitantly, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Uh…" Forge swiveled one of the monitors toward him and Logan recognized it as one of the security feeds. "I don't know how he got past all of the sensors."

"Mother…Sonova… Jesus…" Logan couldn't exactly come up with the correct curse to describe the situation.

There was a man standing directly outside of the front door. He was wearing a red suit and full mask with two black splotches over the eyes and guns strapped to every available space that wasn't inhabited by knives.

The man looked up at the camera.

"Hey Logan! I'm looking for someone named Rogue, you wouldn't happen to know who that is, wouldya?" The man asked the camera.

"Wade?" Logan stared at the screen in disbelief. Wade Wilson; better know as Deadpool, was a mercenary and a crazy. He was also the last person he wanted looking for Rogue.

"Oh dear…" Deadpool said as his body started to jerk. "My arm's moving again." His arm spasmed slightly and then leveled a gun at the camera. "Oh well," Logan could almost see Deadpool's loony smile through the mask. "Seeya inside, Logan!"

There was a sound of a gun shot.

The feed went dead.

An explosion rocked the house.


	4. Chapter 4

Rogue was putting on her tight green t-shirt over her black long sleeved shirt to finish off her normal outfit when a shudder went through the mansion.

She stumbled back with the force of it and hit the ground sharply with her hands.

"What on Earth could that be?" She wondered out loud. It sounded like an explosion, but that was just ridiculous.

In her mind's eye she saw the papers with her name printed on them. The papers that knew everything about her. The papers that had even predicted her future.

Was an explosion so impossible?

The color drained from her face. They were here for her.

She tore out of the room, toppling into Scott and Kurt who were standing in the hallway. She didn't care what they were doing there; she just wanted them to be safe. She remembered thinking earlier that they would have protected her because she was their family, even if it was just protecting her from one jerk. That worked both ways. She would protect them because they were her family, even if it was against an entire army.

"Get out of here." Rogue commanded, scrambling to get to her feet. "Go find the little ones and evacuate them."

"Rouge-." Kurt began to protest, fully backed by Scott.

Rogue turned on them. "This wasn't a debatable point!" She snarled, calling upon the Logan imprinted in her mind to do the talking.

Remy could feel the unwillingness in the two men as they retreated down the hall way from his hiding spot. Though he hated them for leaving her, he also understood that even he would have had a hard time disobeying that order.

He watched with a grim line for lips as Rogue took off _towards _the explosion. Damn, damn, damn. Stubborn _femme _was going to get herself killed.

He forced himself to stay put.

She had screwed with the plan and now he had to work around it.

Remy found it amazing that even when she didn't know he was there, she still went out of her way to make sure he didn't get what he wanted. And right now he wanted her safe.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

He snorted with fury. Yes there had been an explosion. Most normal women would travel the _opposite _direction of the blast. But not Rogue… God forbid Rogue did anything that had her own self-preservation in thought.

He cursed silently in French and followed her.

-

There was no hesitation in Logan's movements. One moment he was standing beside Forge, the next he was on the ground level.

The feral noise that had been rumbling in his throat broke loose when he saw Deadpool standing stoically in the midst of the rubble.

The hell? Deapool never did anything _stoically. 'Stoic' _was one of the many words that Deadpool didn't comprehend. Along with sane, discreet, and appropriate.

"Hey, Logan! Long time no battle to the death!" Deadpool left out his normal wave of the hand and lanky posture. He looked completely at attention.

"Wade, what are you doing here?" Logan hadn't noticed that the adamantium blades had already protruded out of his fists. 

Deadpool's body spamsed slightly and he drew a katana smoothly from where it was tucked away on his back. "That's actually a really funny story." Deadpool laughed as he struck out with a jerky motion.

Logan avoided the blow deftly, but chose not to respond to it just yet. Why was he being so sloppy? Wade was a lot better than this, why was he holding back?

"Alright, I got a joke," Wade chuckled, as if oblivious to his body's motion. "What do you get when you cross Mr. Sinister, Weapon X, and the MRD?"

Logan felt his blood run cold at the same time as the sound of metal clashing rang out in the air. He grunted lightly and then pushed Deadpool off of him with a well aimed kick.

Not good. Mr. Sinister collected and Manipulated Mutant's powers, Weapon X was the program that he and Deadpool had once been a part of that had changed them, they had given Logan the adamantium bones, and they had given Wade his healing ability, and the MRD… well, the MRD was the MRD…

At any rate, not really the greatest thing that could happen to the world.

"I give up." Logan growled.

"I thought they should have called it the Sinister Weapon MRD," Deadpool continued, not flourishing his blunt landing with a pirouette like he usually did. "But apparently 'that wouldn't have gone over well in the public domain' or something, but nobody else had any better ideas, so they're just going as the 'Mutant Isolators' for now. Which I think is lame, but hey, when you've got a Sentinel with mutant powers on your side, whose gonna argue about your name?"

"What are you babbling about?" Logan growled and shifted to an attack.

"Which is why they want this guy, Rogue." Deadpool prattled along, Logan's question went unacknowledged. The edges of the blade in his hand glanced of Logan's claws. "Do you know how tiring it is running around, collecting mutant powers to manipulate and give to their Sentinels? Why do it themselves when they can get another mutant to do it for them?"

"Why?" Logan mopped some of his own blood out of his eyes, barely waiting for the cut to heal. He lashed out again. "Why are you telling me this… and attacking me at the same time?"

"Both kind of have the same answer." Deadpool's swords missed Logan's chest by millimeters. "You see they have this little chip, and it control your movements, makes you do anything they want you too." Deadpool ducked with a rough movement. "And since they have decided to start giving the sentinel's powers, which I think is ironic, they need to collect them first. Which, where again is where this guy comes in." He paused for a moment. "Also, there may or may not be a micro chip in my ass, would you mind checking?"

He paused for another moment.

"And, I'm not attacking you. I'm the distraction."

_BOOM._


	5. Chapter 5

_Note from the Hook! (…The Author…. Nevermind…) Hiya, uno- I'm not particularly fond of this chapter, it just doesn't scream 'AWESOME!' like I wanted it to, but oh well, it was a necessary sacrifice of 'AWESOME!' so that chapters in the future can scream 'AWESOME!' with pure, unbridled kick- assery. Dos- I have recently decided that Deadpool would smell like Lucky Charms. And it's not just the seven discarded boxes of said cereal that have led me to that conclusion…_

_That is all :D _

_-_

_.Damn. _

First she runs away from two men that would gladly give up their lives to protect her or any other mutant, then she _sees _the MRD flood into the house like some sort of plague, but does she start walking the other way- _No. _And then, Deadpool – GODDAMN .DEADPOOL. – is looking for her, and she doesn't even have enough sense to be afraid.

_I sure know how to pick 'em. _Remy mused as he watched Rogue crouch low to the ground and listen to the conversation Logan and Deadpool were having. He could feel Logan's hate, Deadpool's crazy, and Rogue's determination through his powers. There was not going to be an easy way out of this.

If he grabbed Rogue now, she would scream. He couldn't clamp a hand over her mouth because his gloves were fingerless, and he couldn't just flat out walk up to her because in reality she wasn't exactly fond of his presence.

He shocked himself as a punishment for not being careful enough, but Remy LaBeau had never failed out on a plan, especially one of his own, and he wasn't going to start with this one girl.

His eyes flicked over her body as she got down on her hands and knees and crawled forward slightly, trying to get a better view of the inside of the room.

He wasn't going to start with this one girl … No matter how beautiful she was… or how green her eyes were… or how her southern accent flared when she got angry… or how she bit down on her lip when she got nervous, or how-

-He shocked himself again.

"Dammit LeBeau," He hissed to himself. "Pay attention."

He tried to, he really tried. But, it was just so hard when she was bending over like that.

-

Rogue's breath hitched in her throat.

The room in front of her held none of its former glory. A few minutes ago it had been a clean, orderly room. Quite. Peaceful. Safe. Two explosions, a mercenary, and an army later, the room was more like a garden. A big, rocky, dusty, chaotic garden. With a lot of people who were out to hurt her in it.

She caught the movement of one of the men as he turned slightly to took at where she was hiding. She quickly ducked back behind the wall and pressed her spine firmly against the hardness of it.

There were a lot of people on the other side of that wall.

And Logan.

And one weirdo with a belt buckle that looked exactly like his face mask.

Admittedly, Rogue was kind of jealous of his belt-buckle-face-mask combo… all she had going for her was the stripe of white in her hair and the gloves.

She shook off her distracted thoughts and crept closer again, regaining her confidence. She listened while Logan spoke.

"Look, bub, I ain't gonna help you find Rogue." He stated firmly from where he was restrained.

"Well, would you still consider checking out my ass?" Face mask asked. "Because, really, I think this is starting to become a problem."

Rogue gauged the distance between her and Logan. She could make it.

…Maybe…

The key to his restraints was hooked on the belt of the MRD agent closest to him. Easy peasy.

…Maybe…

The wierdy with the mask was completely covered up, but Rogue thought she might be able to get her fingers under his mask if he attacked her.

………… Maybe…………

She took one deep breath. She could do this. Logan would have done this for her; she would do this for him. Even though every man on the other side of that wall was after her, Logan still stood up to them. And even though Logan and Rogue had had their rough spots, Rogue would go get him.

She exhaled a breath and waited for three more seconds in silence, barely listening to the voices on the other side, building her confidence and going over the motions she would have to execute in her head.

She stood.

"_Merde._"

She turned her head sharply to face behind her. Either she was loosing her mind or she had just heard something. Losing her mind seemed more likely at the moment.

_Focus Rogue. _She commanded herself and leaned back to look over the edge of the wall. Not much had changed.

She took a deep breath

Time for action.

-

Logan was really pissed off.

First of all- being captured by anyone mad him angry. Especially when it was by a man with a fraction of a mind and no control over his movements.

That just made him angry for some reason.

"Please?" Deadpool begged, wiggling his butt slightly with the little control he did have.

Logan looked around the room for something he could bash his head against and try to dispel that image from his head forever, but instead he saw a little movement. A very small, slightly insignificant movement on the other side of the only mildly intact wall in the entire front of the house.

He cursed on the inside and sniffed the air warily.

The smell of debris was the first thing that hit him, then the smell of sweat on the nervous MRD agents, the smell of frustration and Lucky Charms from Deadpool, and then… Magnolias and vanilla.

The curses in his mind manifested as growl in his throat.

There was only one person in the world that smelled exactly like that. And if she moved any closer, he was going to kill her himself later.

He tried to inconspicuous about watching her. She slunk around the wall coolly, just like he had taught her too, and then quickly ducked behind a part of the roof that had settled solidly on the ground.

"Can you at least tell me what this Rogue dude looks like," Deadpool continued to ramble. "I mean, come on buddy, don't leave me hanging! Do you have any _idea _how frustration it is not to be able to move your own body?"

Logan let his eyes flick back to Deadpool for a moment. The man was messed up. In a sort of psychotic kitten you found in the dumpster sort of way. He even took a moment to feel pity for whoever _did _put that microchip in Deadpool's ass. Because, when you abuse the psychotic kitten you just found in the dumpster, the kitten has the tendency to tear up your sofa and give all of your children rabies.

And Logan _really _wanted to make sure he and Rogue avoided the rabies tornado that would happen as soon as whoever lost control.

He saw Rogue move again out of the corner of his eye.

This was not going to end well.


	6. Chapter 6

Rouge ducked behind a large mass of bricks and cement that might have once resembled the roof of the house and pressed her back against it, taking a moment to reweigh the situation. The one MRD agent had moved a little bit farther away from Logan when Logan had started to give the man with the mask this look.

The look was feral spite mixed with some summing up.

Hell, if she had been the man, she would have backed up too.

The man with the mask stood perfectly still, as if he weren't even real… that is, his body wasn't moving, his mouth on the other hand…

"Pretty please Logan," The man continued. "Don't make me beg, man! I just want Rogue. And then I want control of my body back. And then I want to kidnap an elephant. But, let's start with Rogue."

Rogue listened to his edict and didn't know whether to find it funny or terrifying.

"Sir," One of the MRD agents hesitantly walked up to the man in the mask and she heard Logan snort when he addressed him as 'sir'. "We're going to run a scan for mutant activity."

The man in the mask swiveled his head to the man addressing him and Rogue rolled over the piece of the roof and crouched behind the infinitely smaller shell of a once-was grandfather clock.

"I find three things wrong with your statement, Chumly," The man adopted a false accent as he addressed the officer. "One, obviously you are going to find some sort of mutant activity in this house… it's a house for mutants. Two, what the hell kind of name is Chumly? And three, if I ever hear you address me as 'sir' again, I will make your outsides your insides. If it is completely necessary to address me formally, you may call me Captain Awesome Pants."

Was this man completely insane? Who would hire a crazy person to go after someone else?

Answer- other crazy people.

_Not good, not good, not good. _She chanted on the inside of her head.

She crawled forward on her hands and knees, trying to close the small gap between her and Logan.

"Logan." She whispered, now directly behind him, crouched low to the ground behind a pile of smoldering rock.

"Get out of here, kid." Logan growled, relying on Deadpool's distraction to keep him from being caught. "They're after you, don't worry about me, just get out."

"Stop being so dramatic." Rogue let a small, cheeky smile cross her lips. "I'll have you out of here in no time."

She started to crawl closer and closer to the man with the key and heard Logan mutter something about her being to stubborn for her own good behind her.

She rolled her eyes. Her stubbornness was working out in his favor right now, he better not be complaining when she got those cuffs off from around his wrists.

She smirked slightly to herself and paused for only a half a second before she reached out her hand to grab the key off of the MRD officer's belt. This was the only part of the plan where she was exposing herself enough to bee seen with a casual glance.

She took a deep breath and reached out her hand.

Three things happened simultaneously. A gun shot, a scream, and an all too familiar _snikt._

_-_

"Rogue!" Shouted Logan as he nearly ripped his arms off struggling against his restraints.

The pain was obvious in Rogue's face as she shuddered slightly. A red splotch was growing across her back.

"Holy crap!" Deadpool exclaimed. "Rogue's a girl?" His legs moved him jerkily to where Rogue was. "A hot girl! This job just got so much better!" He turned his head wildly. "Who shot her?"

"Er…" The one addressed as Chumly stepped forward. "I did…. Captain… Awesome Pants…"

There was one lightning quick movement of silver and red and Chumly was no longer even remotely close to being in the realm of the living.

"Sorry," Deadpool apologized to the dead man. "I can't move my arms… but I would have killed you anyway… just as well, I suppose."

"Deadpool!" Logan yelled getting the masked man's attention.

He saw Rogue wince at his elevated voice and immediately regretted it.

"What?" Deadpool asked, slightly impatiently.

"Let me out of this and I'll show you what." Logan growled.

Deadpool contemplated this a moment. "That really sounds like fun Wolvie, but again with that whole I CAN'T MOVE MY ARMS thing. So, if you feel like fixing that any time in the near future, I'd be friggin ecstatic to let you chop me into little Deadpool, bite-sized pieces."

Logan jerked on of his arms with force enough to cut some of the skin.

"I don't think you're going to have to let me free." Logan let the rumble of his voice grow with hate and anger. His arms fell to his side, claws unsheathed, a pair of handcuffs that neutralized mutant powers hanging from his left wrist, and his bloody right hand dripping slightly on the floor. With one rough movement he cut off the cuffs and started to feel his right hand heal, but that was the last thing on his mind as he took out his feral aggression on the several dozen men surrounding him.

-

Remy crept into the open front part of the house; the bright sunlight hurt his eyes but he kept his objective in mind.

He had been stupid. He should have interviened.

He had seen Rogue hesitate slightly before reaching out her arm.

He had seen the man catch sight of her, obviously assuming it was just another mutant, the man pointed the gun at her.

It had taken an effort not to get in the way of that bullet. Or to kill the man who had pulled the trigger. Or to free Wolverine. All of those things had been done for him by other people.

He charged a card in his pocket and let it burst against his skin as a punishment.

When you did something wrong there was a punishment. That was the law he had grown up with. It had been enforced religiously. But now that there was no force oppressing him he still couldn't seem to stop himself. The punishment was deserved.

He had made a mistake.

The bigger the mistake, the bigger the punishment.

He looked around slowly as his silent feet kept moving him towards his target. Wolverine savagely tore away at hordes of men at a time, loosing himself to a more animal side but what he should have done first was gone to Rogue. The short Canadian had never been one for thinking ahead. Wolverine was thinking vengeance.

Remy was thinking salvation.

He bent over her when he reached her, he could feel the pain and anger that was boiling just underneath the surface of her smooth skin.

"How you feeling, _chérie_?" He looked into her fading green eyes with half a smile. This could have been avoided.

"Peachy." She hissed between clenched teeth, wincing with pain.

"Gambit gon' take care of you, _chérie. _Remember that." He mumbled to her as he lifted her into his arms.

Her eyes drooped dangerously and Remy had to keep mumbling made up stories to keep her conscious as he swiftly lifted her from the X-men's protection.

Not exactly according to plan thus far, but not exactly the worst it could possibly be.

Remy noticed that the back of her shirt was dyed red with blood.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

Deadpool could feel the disconnect from his brain to his body. And that wasn't just because Wolverine had sliced off his legs; it was because of that stupid microchip.

If he ever found the person behind the controls, he was going to shoot them. In the balls. Four times. And if they were still alive, he was going to throw them off the top of a building into some thorny bushes. And if there weren't any thorny bushes at the bottom of the building, he'd plant some, shoot the guy four times, and _then _send his to his death via thornyness.

Oh yes… that's what he would do.

"Deadpool…" He heard someone growl, snapping him back to reality.

"Yes?" Deadpool drawled, wishing he could move his hand enough to scratch his back… and it wasn't even his back, it was that one part where, no matter how hard you try you just can't get the right angle on it to make the itch stop.

"Pay attention Wade!" Wolverine snapped, dragging Deadpool up to eye level by the front of his shirt. "I said, Where is Rogue?"

"Uno- Don't call me Wade, it makes me feel like a child again, and I blew a lot of things up hen I was a child, so I think that that wouldn't be in anyone's favor. Two- I have no idea where the hot chick went, but I'm pretty sure she didn't do it by herself considering she had a bullet in her spine. Trois, Can I have my legs back now?" Deadpool rambled. For some reason, he just felt a little empty without his legs.

Deadpool let his eyes wander around all of the dead MRD agents as Logan dropped him and sniffed around. The man was efficient.

"Tobacco, spices and lust." Logan muttered underneath his breath. "I wonder who that could be." He said sarcastically.

"Lust?" Deadpool piped up. "Whose lust? Hot girl's lust? I knew she couldn't resist me."

"Do you ever stop talking?" Wolverine inquired.

"Not to my knowledge." Deadpool admitted. "though there was this one time that I –."

"Shut up." Wolverine said bluntly and started to walk away.

"Wait! Logaaaaaan!" Deadpool whined. "Pretty, pretty please with dead puppies on top take out the microchip?" He begged.

Wolverine turned to him, taking him in for a moment. "Tell me everything you know?" Wolverine finally said.

"I would have done that anyway." Deadpool scoffed.

Wolverine rolled his eyes. "I am going to regret this." He mumbled as he walked over to Deadpool. "Where is it?"

"Base of the spine."

Wolverine rolled his eyes to the heavens, said something that sounded like a short prayer and a 'Why me?' mixed together, took a deep breath, and then stabbed Deadpool in the ass.


	7. Chapter 7

Rogue was shaking in his arms, shock sending her into a panic. Remy gently placed her on the countertop, that being the only suitable place to put her at the moment.

Remy's safe house was a good distance away from the X-men and the only reason he had been able to get there in such a speedy manner was the sports car he had stolen, and then the countless other traffic laws he had broken.

He shrugged slightly to himself as he peeled off his coat. Need inspired invention.

Rogue mumbled something incoherently and hugged herself closer.

"_Merde!" _Remy looked down at the blood stains that covered nearly everything he had touched.

"Gambit?" Rogue muttered, it obviously just registering with her that someone was there.

"I'm here." He tried to make his voice soothing as he went through his own pockets, looking for a different pair of gloves.

"Did I get shot?" Rogue asked. He noticed the way she bit her lip and the shine on her face from her silent tears.

"Ya did_. _It wasn't your best moment." He smiled at her warmly and relished the success he felt when he found a pair of gloves with fingers still intact.

"It doesn't actually hurt as much as I thought it would," Rogue admitted with a wince. "It's just cold."

Remy paused a precious moment to sympathize with her before pressing on her shoulder so that she was laying flat on her stomach.

"That's called 'shock', _chérie." _He peeled up her soaked shirt away from her stained skin and located the hole in her back, unable to enjoy the feeling of actually taking her shirt off under the circumstances. "This, however," He took a deep breath and prepared his mind for the screaming. "This will hurt a lot."

He went to retrieve the bullet.

-

Logan watched as Deadpool stared at his own wiggling feet, Logan didn't know if he was so infatuated with them because he had just reassembled his legs or because he could finally move his own body. Hell, for all Logan knew, Deadpool just spent hours out of everyday staring at his feet, the man was a loon.

"Deadpool," He called.

"Yes?" Deadpool stood and pranced around for a few moments.

"…Nevermind…" Logan decided he didn't actually want to know everything that Wade did.

"Logan!" Someone called his name from behind and he turned quickly to see Cyclops, Nightcrawler, IceMan, Storm, and Shadowcat running towards him.

"What happened?" Kitty said, looking around at all of the damage.

"The MRD happened." Logan grumbled.

"Not entirely true my hairy Canadian friend." Deadpool said.

"Logan…" Cyclops looked at Deadpool, who was juggling a few bullet casings while humming the theme song from 'Golden Girls'. "Who is that…?"

Logan put his face down in his hands. "Everyone," He saw that they were all staring at Deadpool with something between amused and disturbed curiosity. "This is Deadpool…"

"Hi everyone!" Deadpool waved and then walked around Kitty in a tight circle. "Seven… maybe an eight if your hair didn't look so dumb."

"Hey!" Kitty protested, tugging on her hair self consciously.

"Logan," Nightcrawler looked around the destroyed room. "Vhere is Rogue?"

Logan felt a growl crawl up his throat. "Gambit."

That got everyone's attention.

"Whoa, what do you mean 'Gambit'?" Bobby spoke up, furious. "I thought you said the MRD did this."

"Hey, _chill _out." Deadpool said, obviously thinking he was just hilarious. "The MRD didn't do this. The Mutant Isolators did this. And hot chick is probably safer with Gambit wherever they are then here."

"Mutant Isolators?" Bobby looked at Deadpool like he was crazy, and then added. "…Hot chick?"

"Yeah, you know the smokin' one with the white stripe in her hair and the bullet in her back." Deadpool said while pantomiming a curvy figure.

"Bullet?" Kitty looked panicked.

"Deadpool!" Logan yelled and Deadpool responded despite himself. "Stop talking!"

"Logan," Scott stepped forward with his usual chilled demeanor. "Tell us what's going on." He said sternly.

Logan thought for a moment about blaming it all on Wade, but sighed and told them the story.

…

"So, Gambit took Rogue to keep her from having her powers manipulated and turned into a weapon so that the MRD could give powers to the Sentinels." Kitty summarized once Logan had finished.

"Yes." Logan said, eager to go find Rogue.

"How do we know all of this?" Storm asked, obviously perplexed by Logan's wealth of knowledge about things that had only been set in motion the day before.

Logan jabbed a thumb in Deadpool's direction, who had somehow managed to get a can of soda from somewhere and was drinking it through his mask.

"He's like the little brother we never tell people we have." Kitty commented as everyone stared at Deadpool.

Deadpool finally noticed the attention. "Want some?" He held out the can.

"This is serious!" Logan slapped the can out of Deadpool's hand.

"Oh no!" Deadpool went down on his knees in front of the puddle of soda. "Babs! You killed her!" He wept.

"Uhm… Logan…" Nightcrawler stared at the spectacle along with everyone else. "Is he alright?"

"I really don't know."

"Can we trust him?" Cyclops asked.

"Probably not," Logan answered. "But he's our only hope of getting Rogue off the hook with Sinister, Weapon X_, and_ the MRD."

Everyone continued to stare at the man, already having abandoned the soda, had some how found a bag of chips from somewhere and was trying to eat them through the mask.

"…Rogue's doomed…"

-

Rogue was in a dazed twilight zone. Reality and fabrication mashed together in a whirl pool of nonsensical colors. There was only one simple fact in this world, and that was- there are no facts.

She couldn't remember anything past her crawling on the ground behind the grandfather clock.

The man in the mask.

The other man with the key on his belt.

She reached out for it…

_Slap. Slap. Scrape. Slap. Scrape. Slap. _

What was that? …

_Slap. Scrape. Scrape. Slap. Scrape. Slap._

It would be a whole hell of a lot easier to concentrate without it.

_Scrape. Slap. Slap. Slap. Scrape. Slap._

It almost sounded like…

_Scrape. Scrape. Slap. Slap. Scrape. Slap._

Playing Cards…

-

_(Hook) Bahaha! Hate to leave you there, I know how much everyone hates it when it ends like that C: I just wanted to tell you guys how much I love your replies. I'm glad you had fun reading it, because I was having way to much fun writing it. (Deadpool is hilarious to write for) Thank you all! _


	8. Chapter 8

Rogue had one mildly sane thought before she took action, and that thought was- What would Logan do?

The sound of cards scraping against wood and being patted back down was still echoing in her ears, giving away the exact position of whoever else it was in the room.

What would Logan do?

That was actually a really simple question with a really simple answer.

She took a deep breath, pulling herself out of that topsy turvy world and into reality, and without a second thought, hurled herself at whoever it was playing cards.

The fall had been farther then she had expected, but the desired result was just the same, she pinned down the man with her knees on his shoulders, cocked a fist back, and…

"Gambit?" She looked down at the man, slightly dumbfounded, and then even more so when she realized that her clothes and her setting had changed. Instead of her usual green over black tops, she was wearing a light blue button down dress shirt, and she seemed to be in a sparsely furnished loft of some sort.

"Not that I exactly mind this position, _cherie," _Gambit smirked from underneath her. " But it's a tad bit uncomfortable."

Rogue glared at him, and brought her fist back a second time, about to punch him just because he deserved it.

He anticipated her move, quickly snagging her wrist and pulling down, setting her off balance. He dragged her underneath him and mimicked the way she had pinned him down. "That's better, _non?" _He smiled down at her, his demon eyes sparking with mischief.

"Let me up Swamp Rat! Tell me what the hell is going on!" Rogue demanded, struggling against him.

Gambit looked down at her with a cheeky grin. "Gambit is almost offended, all of de _femmes_ would _love _for him to be this close, but he's gon' let you off the hook for the moment." He rolled off of her. "Now, take off your shirt."

"What?" Rogue screeched, stunned into paralysis. She knew that he was flirty, but to be that _blunt _about it…

"Ya were shot, _chere. _In the back." Gambit explained, grinning at the reaction he had gotten out of her, but looking concerned non the less. "I need ta check it now dat we've been rollin around on the ground and such."

"I was… shot?" Rogue looked up at him stupidly from her place on the ground. She would have imagined that it probably would have hurt more to be shot… her back just sort of ached.

"Yes, _petit, _shot." He looked like he was trying to explain something to an uncooperative five year old.

Remy looked down at her, amused by the confused look she was giving him, but, through his empathy he could sense some anger starting to boil inside of her. He set out quickly to diffuse it, not wanting her to attract any attention with some sort of raving.

"You don't remember?" He asked softly.

She shook her head, the anger dying down slowly as she sat up. He helped her stand completely, letting his gloved fingers linger against her gloved fingers for a second longer than necessary against his will.

She bushed and took a step back.

Remy took a moment to stare at the tips of his fingers. The tips of his fingers could do horrible things, they could cause pain, they could cause destruction. And, his eyes flicked down to her fingers for just a moment, the tips of her fingers could do just as much… maybe even worse.

How … fitting…

"Would you mind explainin' things to me?" Rogue asked snippily, getting slightly antsy under his constant gaze. It wasn't that people didn't look at her. People looked at her all the time, hell, _men _looked at her all the time. But no one ever looked at her like _that. _

It made her nervous.

"Right," His smile flashed back into it's normal place. "First, off with the shirt." He commanded.

Rogue felt her face glow red with the awful heat of embarrassment. "Do I have too?" She whined.

"_Oui." _Came the curt response as he tapped his foot and crossed his arms dramatically.

The embarrassment tripled as she turned around so that her back was facing him and pulled the shirt above her head.

"Damn." Gambit said from behind her.

"What," Rogue started to panic… she couldn't feel anything except for a slight soreness, could it really be that bad? "What is it?"

"It's all healed up." He sounded disappointed. "There's Wolverine for ya'. Doesn't even know where we are, and he's still keeping' me from getting your shirt off. Even if it is just his damn healing powers."

Rogue quickly pulled the shirt back over her head and turned around with her hand outstretched as if to strike him. He ducked underneath her blow and then tackled her to the ground again, pinning her in much the same manner as before, only rougher now that he knew he couldn't hurt her.

"Let meh up!" She hissed, her accent spiking again.

"First," Gambit waved a taunting finger in front of her face. "Admit that I might actually be doing something for your own good."

"Fine." Rogue snapped, struggling harder against him.

"Say it." Gambit demanded, pressing down on her one shoulder gingerly, as if he was trying to avoid hurting her.

Rogue muttered something incoherently.

"Louder." Gambit prompted.

"It could be, maybe, possibly that somehow, perhaps, you could be doing something that might be for my own good." She glared up at him, a thousand questions burning in her mind.

He laughed at her, she noticed the way the grin made the corners of his eyes crinkle and decided she liked that a lot better then the usually impassive expression he always wore.

She quickly shook those thoughts out of her head and kneed and punched at Gambit until he rolled off of her again.

"_Deiu, _you are in a bad mood." He laughed at her.

She 'harrumphed' and crossed her arms over her chest. "You better start explaining things now or I'll siphon answers out of you."

He laughed again. "But that would require _touching _me, _cherie, _and you _do not _want to do that."

_Odd, _thought Rogue, stunned momentarily. That phrase sounded weirdly familiar. It took her a second to realize why exactly, and then she launched herself back on top of Gambit, trying to claw out his eyes with her gloved hands.

"You were following me?" She accused, trying to get a firm grip around his neck.

"Maybe a little bit," Gambit admitted with a smile, skillfully avoiding all of her attacks. "That was only for your protection, however."

"And what about the part where ya' _kidnapped _meh," Rogue snorted. "Was that fo' mah protection to?"

"I'm a t'ief." Gambit shrugged. "I steal t'ings. Now, are you gonna try and kill me, or are you gonna let me explain?"

Begrudgingly, Rogue put down the chair she was about to break over his teeth, and listened as he explained about the explosion, the crazy mercenary named Deadpool, the MRD being severely beaten by Wolverine, and how he had discreetly relieved them of the duty of watching out for her for the next few days… or longer if need be. He conveniently left out the parts that didn't have to do with _the plan. _

"Huh…" Rogue rested her chin in her palms after he was done explaining. "How the hell did I get so popular so fast?"

Gambit gave her a smile, one of those ones that made her confused to be a woman, and said, "I'm sure a _belle femme _such as your self was plenty popular without havin' to be tracked down by the government."

"And I really don't know if you're bein' sincere or a smart ass."

"A little bit of both." He smirked.

-

Logan slouched slightly, an unusual gesture for him in itself, but the company he was in made it even odder.

"I just don't know what to do, Chuck." He said to the professor.

The bald man looked at him with a pensive gaze it the stark nirvana he and Logan usually met in when Professor Xavier contacted him from the future. It had been the team's decision that Logan should meet with the professor before they took any actions, if anything, just to get the elderly man's opinion on the odd situation.

… And, Deadpool had accidentally locked himself in the danger room, and Logan had thought to do something constructive while waiting for Scott and Kurt to bust him out.

"Hmm." Was all Xavier had to offer at the moment. "Could this be how it all starts?" He questioned himself, pacing on his mechanical legs.

"How _what _starts, Chuck?" Logan asked gingerly.

"Oh," The professor looked up as if just noticing that Logan was there. "Uh- Nothing, nothing." He turned his back to Logan and chuckled. Charles Xavier chuckles for two reasons, and only two.

One could be that he actually found something quite amusing, never being know for actually bursting into gales of laughter and always being known for having a good natured smile on his face, a chuckle was a mark of success when getting on Charles Xavier's good side.

Another reason Charles Xavier chuckles is when he is nervous. A general crease of the brows was his usual way for showing displeasure, his smile faltering for a moment and his eyes striking a new tone of seriousness that differed slightly from the earnestness they` always held, but that only made clear a situation was to be taken seriously. But, when a nervous chuckle escaped his lips, something beyond his control had happened and it made him anxious. Nervous chuckles were not good.

Logan couldn't tell which one this was.

"Does this mean Wade Wilson is here presently?" Xavier asked as he turned back to Logan, no emotion lingered on his face for Logan to try and detect what the man might have meant.

"Yeah," Logan answered. "But I don't know how I feel about taking his word. He doesn't smell like a liar… only like Lucky Charms… but who knows, the man is _crazy, _he could be making everything up."

Charles put a reassuring hand on his student's shoulder. "Trust him for the time being." Xavier said firmly, Logan noticed that he didn't specify what 'for the time being' meant.

"When do we stop trusting him, Chuck?"

"Hopefully not until he steals your motorcycle and a box of our sugar cookies," Xavier said gravely. "Hopefully."

"What about Gambit?" Logan said, trying to wrench his thoughts away from what'd he'd do to Deadpool if he stole his motorcycle.

"Gambit…" Charles looked like he put a lot of thought into answering that question. "The decision will be yours when the time comes… if he can do the right thing, for Rogue, for the X-men, for humanity, then I expect that he might even be welcomed by you." He paused a moment. "But there is a chance that my interference will have an adverse side effect and erase these paths that have already been drawn in the future."

Their connection started to fade away, but Logan still burned with questions.

"How will I get Rogue back?" He asked quickly, before the connection was broken entirely.

"The future is not set in stone, Logan." The man said cryptically. "And thus, neither is the past."

The connection broke, Logan was back in an empty room, staring at a comatose man.

Trust Deadpool… consider trusting Gambit… The professor was sure asking a lot this time around…


	9. Chapter 9

The safe house itself was a spacey loft that contained nothing but the bare essentials. The elevator required a five-digit code and the pass key to be entered before anyone was allowed access. Upon entering there was something that might have been a living room if anyone had cared to add more furniture, now it only contained a comfortable looking couch and something that could possibly pass as a television under the right circumstances. To the left was a kitchen which was complete with enough materials to feed two people for a week and a half. To the far right there was the bedroom.

That was where Rogue was asleep.

Darkness had settled in quickly and she hadn't had enough energy to fight for her freedom, and she hadn't been entirely sure she had wanted too. Being stuck in a safe house with Gambit had sounded more and more appealing

Remy sat in a corner, covered by shadow, his mood darkened by watching her struggle with demons in her dreams that he couldn't help fight off. He wouldn't admit what else was bothering him.

It had to do with _the plan. _If it hadn't been for his employer's stupid-

_Non, _He cut off his own thoughts. _This is my fault, I will take the blame. I started this, and this is the only way to end it. _

He leaned back in his seat, flicking the cards he always had on his person around in his fingers in the hopes of soothing his self-hatred. He was able to keep any guilt he felt about all of the things he had done at bay when there were things to do - robbing banks, stealing diamonds, kidnapping pretty girls- but right now, in the still of the night, when there was nothing for Remy LeBeau to steal, charm, or blow up, he felt it.

In his short life filled with sin he had learned two things.

One, there is always money to be had.

Two, Remy LeBeau is a bad, bad man.

He charged his shirt until it burned his skin and considered not uncharging it.

He had two days… Two days to make the plan work, or two days to live. It was his choice. Lesson number two told him that he was going to make the plan work and then continue his life pursuing lesson number one, but something about it made his skin crawl.

He charged his shirt even more, almost to the point where it was unstable, and then slowly reabsorbed the energy, not wanting any scars.

For a moment or two he returned his attention back to Rogue, tossing and turning in her sleep, grappling with monster he wouldn't be able to comprehend. But, what he could comprehend was the _fear. _He could feel it through her and it wouldn't have mattered if he had been anywhere else in the world, he would have felt it.

Why did it have to be _this _girl?

Suddenly, _that _girl screamed and sat bolt upright.

"Calm down, _cherie," _He sat down next to her, trying to sooth her with out actually touching her. "It was just a dream."

Rogue ran her hands up and down her body, trying to make sure she was actually real before it sunk in where she was. "Sorry." She looked up at Remy with those ridiculously green eyes that were slightly wet with tears. "I had a bad dream."

Remy watched her, and probably for the first time in his life, he didn't know what to say. He was a liar and a thief, what was he supposed to say to make someone feel better?

"Actually," Rogue added after a moment's thought. "You were in it."

"You havin' dreams 'bout ol' Gambit now, _cher?" _He joked to cover up how stunned he actually was. Had _he _been the one making her scream?

Through his empathy he could feel her mood lighten at the familiarity of his advance mixed with the slight swell of embarrassment she always felt when he did that.

"Don't let it go to your head." She snipped.

"Too late." He assured her. "Ya mind telling Gambit what exactly he did in this dream exactly?"

"Yes!" She sounded outraged, but he could feel her embarrassment completely outweigh her anger.

"Goodness," He smiled at her. "It must have been _bad._" He emphasized 'bad' and let her draw any conclusion to what he was talking about on her own.

"No it wasn't!" Rogue's face was positively glowing red at this point and he didn't need empathy to know she regretted telling him that he was in her dream. He almost laughed. Almost.

"Oh, come on," Remy pretended to sulk. "Was I naked?"

"You're obnoxious!"

"Dat's not an answer." He sang.

"Fine!" Rogue stood up and started walking around, trying to burn off some of the mortification. "You were holding my hand. Happy? And then you let me go and I was consumed by a giant hole of darkness and death!"

"So, Gambit was fully clothed 'den?" He said after a small pause to cover up his own mortification. It _was_ his fault.

To his surprise, Rogue giggled slightly at this, appreciating him skipping over the part where they were holding hands and the part about her being sucked into a dramatic death, and right to the part that would have fueled his ego. "Yes," She smiled. "You had all your clothes on."

Remy set his lips in a pout. "Aww…"

"Oh, hush you," She crawled back into the bed she had been inhabiting, waving him away in the same action.

He walked over to the door, appealing to her dismissal.

"Rogue," He said over his shoulder.

"Hmm?" She looked up, honestly not knowing what to expect from the Cajun man.

He hesitated for a moment.

"_Fais de beaux rêves." _He turned out of the room and closed the door behind him. _Sweet dreams. _

He stood for a moment, lingering in front of the door, fighting the urge to go back in there and tell her exactly what he had wanted to say.

The truth.

_-_

There were two choices in this particular situation- the logical choice, and the choice that made sure everyone stayed alive.

The logical choice would be for Logan to lead a few of the team to go find Rogue and have Deadpool lead the others to find out more on who exactly wanted Rogue.

The choice that made sure everyone stayed alive was the one that made sure as hell Deadpool was not leading anyone anywhere.

Logan did not hesitate to go with the second option.

"But…" Kitty looked up at him when he explained his reasonings to the entire team. "What about Rogue?"

"If Gambit touches a hair on her head," Logan growled, the anger that had been revisiting him more and more as of late flared again. "The only 'Cajun' thing he'll represent is jambalaya."

Kitty was slightly skeptical, but she had seen the number he had done to the MRD agents that had spilled into the mansion earlier, so she was in no position to doubt his abilities to inflict pain. And she knew for fact that if anyone made a wrong move by Rogue, it was a wrong move times a million by Logan.

Kurt sat hunched in the shadows, his usual spot, listening to Kitty's and Logan's exchange. He wasn't about to interject his personal desire to go find Rogue after Logan had already made up his mind on what was more important at the moment. Though, Kurt warily agreed that it was more important to stop the people after her before finding her, he sent his prayers out for Rogue, and his threats out to Gambit.

Bobby shuffled from foot to foot, anxious to do something, anything. He was nervous about his home being blown up and invaded, worried about Rogue, scared of the new guy, completely terrified of Logan, and really, really hungry.

Ororo stayed silent, waiting for Logan to finish briefing them on what exactly their mission was. She did not like this in the slightest. It seemed as though all of the scales had been pushed out of their favor. Now, three of the biggest names that the X-men stood against were banning together to take down her family. And she was simply not going to stand for it.

Scott stood in his usual, stiff manner. He was concerned for Rogue, yes. He was wary of Gambit, sure. He was a little wierded out by the guy in the face mask, absolutely. But most of all he was very, very angry. He knew the people who were trying to take apart what he had worked for years to obtain, and had just gotten back. If they thought they were going to do it without a fight, they were wrong. Dead. Wrong.

Deadpool was wondering what happened to Sammy, his favorite gun. He could have sworn he had had her on him when he had walked into this place. …Maybe when Logan cut his legs off…

"Deadpool!"

"What?" He looked up to notice everyone was staring at him again. Why did that always happen when he wasn't paying attention?

"Well, anytime you're ready," Logan said. "We'd like to get on our way, bub. And, since you're the only one who knows who we're after where…"

Deadpool jumped into the air with glee as those words found homes on the 'Words I understand' list. "You mean I'm like Team Captain?"

"No-" Logan started to discourage that thinking, but it was too late. "You shall all address me as _Dr. _Professor Awesome Pants," He paced in front of the other X-man. "Or there will be blood."

_Snikt. _

Logan held out his claws menacingly in Deadpool's direction.

"Or, we could just go." Deadpool shrugged. "If we wanted to do it the 'no-fun' way."

Deadpool started to walk resolutely away, opening a door and slamming it behind him.

Logan and the others stared at the door for a few moments.

Deadpool came stomping back out.

"Someone could have told me it was a closet."

"I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this." Logan said.

"Nonsense my good man." Deadpool marched forward toward the correct door this time. "Tallyho!"

Everyone stared after him.

"…No, seriously. Rogue's doomed…"


	10. Chapter 10

_(Hook) Well, I figured it was time for me to explain a few things. *lack of action in this chapter* *however, no lack of Deadpool, because I think he's funny C: * ALSO! Love love love the reviews! You guys make my heart squishy! (Technically my heart was already squishy, considering it's constructed of tissue… The point is the reviews make me smile.) _

_Alrighty then, suppose I shouldn't waste any more of your time considering you have a chapter to read… :D_

_-_

Logan cringed as another crash filled the cabin of the Blackbird. Why Deadpool? Why not Sabretooth or Magneto? At least they could be reasonable. Or Toad? Logan would trade Deadpool for Toad any day of the week.

"Deadpool!" Storm was the first to snap. "Sit down and keep your hands to yourself!"

"All I'm saying is, what's the point of having an inflatable boat on a plane?" Deadpool sat down in the chair that was normally reserved for Rogue and crossed his legs impatiently.

"Are we there yet?" Bobby stuttered, looking over all of Deadpool's weapons.

"God, I hope so." Muttered Logan under his breath and then glanced at Nightcrawler, who had taken controls for the moment.

"If Deadpool is right on vhere ve are going," Nightcrawler checked a few things on the panels in front of him. "Ve should be arriving in half of an hour."

"Good." Bobby said.

"Shades," Logan looked over his shoulder at Cyclops, who had been characteristically silent but uncharacteristically cold. "You alright?"

"The sooner this is over, the better I'll be." Scott replied curtly.

Logan didn't press the matter.

"Hey, Looogan…" Deadpool raised his hand.

"What?" Logan grumbled.

"I was wondering, I noticed your little X-men don't really like killing people," Deadpool said. "And, I, on the other hand-."

"No killing people." Logan said simply.

"Aw, come on!" Deadpool whined. "What are you going to do when you meet the guys hunting hot chick?" He asked.

"I'm gonna cut their heads off."

Surprisingly, the other X-men accepted this, probably only upset that they couldn't do the deed themselves.

"So unfair." Deadpool grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his foot at an irritating rate.

Logan found himself wishing Hank or Forge were there, maybe either of them could have added some sort of logical stability to the situation. But they were back at the mansion, inspecting the chip Logan had stabbed out of Deadpool, maybe they could come up with some way to disable it without any harm to the person who had it.

Because, Logan couldn't just stab _everyone._

Well… he could… but that probably wouldn't go over well with the people who couldn't heal like Deadpool… probably…

"Mr. Logan?" Kitty's innocent voice interrupted his violent thoughts.

He acknowledged her speech with a grunt.

She took that as a cue to go on. "What exactly are they trying to do to Rogue?" Her thoughts kept wandering back to the southern girl who had been one of her closer friends and the institute. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her, and Kitty felt that if she was going to fully grasp what this meant to keep her friend safe, she had to know the consequences of if they failed.

"I don't really know how to answer that-." Logan started to say. "Oh!" Deadpool cut in. "Pick me! Pick me! I know!"

"Uhm… okay…" Kitty responded tentatively.

Deadpool cut the lights in the cabin of the Blackbird, suddenly drawing out a flashlight that he had been storing in God-knows-where, and used it to illuminate his face, making sure he had everyone's attention.

"Once upon a time," Deadpool began, the fairytale beginning might have been amusing if it weren't for the unbridled crazy in his eyes. "There were three different little institutions. One was the big, bad MRD. They didn't like mutants. Not. One. Little. Bit. They spent most of their time tracking them down, only to find that very tiring, because most of the mutants they captured just escaped again. Needless to say, that made the MRD very angry.

"Next came Weapon X! Weapon X had a crazy knack for finding crazier people and giving them crazy abilities. Like, giving a psychopath an insane healing factor, or, a feral mutant an indestructible metal skeleton. But, they had a problem. With all of the mutants they were collecting and changing up, it kept getting harder to keep track of them all.

"Thirdly, there was a very bad man named Nathaniel Essex, or, better known to you as, Mister Sinister. Sinister took mutant abilities, added some new stuff he thought would make it cooler, brainwashed said mutant and then attempt to rule the world with them. I don't feel that I have to point out that this plot has not worked thus far.

"The MRD, being the smartest of the three and the most well-funded, contacted the other two and made them an offer. They wanted variables that both of them had too make their new plan work. From Weapon X, they wanted a certain, debonair mercenary, and from Sinister, they wanted the means to control him. But, not only that…"

"Wait," Logan cut in. "Why did they want you? What does this have to do with what they want to do to Rogue?"

"No interrupting the story!" Bobby snapped, waiting for Deadpool to continue.

"Thank you, young popsicle. " Deadpool nodded his head to Bobby and then continued. "Not only that, they wanted their help in the capture of one particular, really hot, mutant. Why? Because the MRD had hatched a plan so devious I literally _thought _about paying attention when they tried explaining it to me. It had something to do with giving the Sentinels mutant powers… weee…

"The MRD offered it's 'helper buddies' the gift of anonymity and isolation in return for their services, and they eagerly accepted. Little did the big bad MRD know that it had just given Sinister and Weapon X a different fantastically devious plan. Seriously, I almost paid attention for these one's too.

"Sinister realized that a mutant with that much potential for storing other mutant's powers would be like a giant sale at some sort of mutant power store… where he could just walk in a grab some powers… or something… Mind you, this would not be a pleasant process. Sinister isn't fond of pain killers.

"Weapon X realized that the mutant could be turned into a single person army. Like some sort of Omega-Dead-Tooth-Wolverine-Deathstrike-23-Keeper Of All Awesome thing. And, if you thought Sinister's plan would have screwed her up, you have no idea what Weapon X would do to her."

He paused a moment in his story to allow everyone to take in that. Logan growled deep in his throat, Kitty paled, Bobby clenched his fists, Ororo felt the crack of lightning she had caused strike outside of the jet, Scott ground his teeth together, and Kurt started to pray under his breath.

"But," Deadpool finally continued, regaining the attention of the room. "The MRD still think's they're playing on their side. Sinister supplied the microchip, Weapon X supplied me. They sent me after the girl, and I am assuming by now they know I didn't come back with her. Which is for the better. Trust me, if Rogue gets back to that place, there's gonna be a bloodbath over her."

He flicked off the flashlight dramatically.

The lights in the cabin came back on when Scott finally had enough of everyone sitting stunned in the darkness.

"It's nothing we can't handle." He assured them weakly as he sat back down.

"What are we going to do, Logan?" Ororo looked up to their leader.

"Like I said." Logan rumbled. "I'm gonna cut their heads off."

_-_

_(Hook) Next time on … this fanfic… Rogue starts to go a little crazy, Deadpool continues to be crazy, and Logan gets angry (not like that's anything new, but bare with me.) Did I answer all of the questions? Well… sorta… There's still the one about Remy's plan, and how Rogue gets stabbed, and a lot of other stuff. My, what a tangled web I have weaved… BAHAAHAHA!_

_(Can I have some feedback please?) *pouty face* _

_(Also, High fives for everyone! Oh yeeeah!) _


	11. Chapter 11

Rogue shifted again uncomfortably under the sheets and squeezed her eyes shut almost to the point where it was physically painful. She had been laying in that bed for three hours without sleep. She wasn't sure if it was because Gambit had been there or because he had left, but it was really irritating her.

She huffed another breath as she flipped from her back to her stomach for the hundredth time in the past half hour. She buried her face in the pillow and held her breath until her sides ached.

Why did he have to be so infuriatingly annoying? She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was sure it had something to do with the eyes… or the smile… or the-

-She sat up suddenly and punched the pillow.

No. No. No.

He was a flirty, arrogant, obnoxious jerk. He never made a move that he hadn't already plotted, he never said a word he knew wouldn't inspire the reaction he wanted. He. Was. Gambit. Obviously he was trying to manipulate what she was feeling or _something. _There had to be a better explanation to why she was having _dreams _about the man.

He _wanted _her to be confused.

Usually her dreams consisted of a mashed swirl of memories. Of being strapped down to a table, injected with metal. Of being dragged through mud, through iron gates that meant death. Of watching the world quickly spiral out of control. Of watching a son turn into the very thing that inspired fear. Of being captured again. Of being controlled by the man who passed himself as a father. Of running. Rejection. Abuse. Manipulation. Darkness. Cold.

She rarely had dreams that spawned from her own subconscious. The one with Gambit had been a rare occurrence, but still terrifying. She remembered it vividly. It had basically been what she had relayed to Gambit a few hours ago, except for one minor detail she had 'accidentally' left out.

He had asked her if he had been fully clothed. Yes… _he _had. But _she_ hadn't been wearing any gloves.

She was stuck on that mental picture- their fingers twined together, flesh against flesh.

"Why him?" She moaned. Why couldn't some _nice _guy find his way into her dreams? Maybe a _nice _guy would have held on to her hand in stead of letting her die. Maybe a _nice _guy would stop being so damn mysterious and spine-chilling.

Maybe a nice guy wouldn't make her so CONFUSED.

She flipped again, this time so that she was laying on her back.

She reached the same conclusion she had a few minutes ago. Gambit _wanted _her confused.

The man wouldn't leave her alone. He'd say something and it would make her blush. He'd give her a look and it would make her blush. He'd smile at her…. And it'd make her blush. She'd give him some crippling retort and he would laugh it off. She'd give him a glare that would kill lesser men and he would comment on how pretty her eyes were. And she could never bring herself to smile at him, it would probably just encourage him.

She smashed the heel of her hand against her forehead. Finally slipping out of the bed she decided she needed a shower to wash off the greasy film he seemed to have left on her and take off his stupid shirt.

She stealthily snuck out of the door, calling upon her skills as an X-man to be sneaky. Under her breath she prayed that Gambit was asleep, or he would already have known she was awake.

Why?

Because the man was a mind ninja.

She made a beeline for the only bathroom that had a shower in it, her thoughts still to hectic to absorb anything but the blaringly obvious. Her eyes swept the openness of the loft one time before she turned away, making sure it was empty and quite.

_Good, _she thought with a nod. Followed by, _Maybe I'm being a little paranoid? _

She shrugged as she twisted the knob and opened the door.

"Ah!" She screamed, leaping back and slapping her fingers over her eyes. "I saw nothing!" She declared. "AND I AM NOT CONFUSED!" She roared before running away.

Remy stood half-naked in the center of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his face, wet hair plastered to his forehead, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth as he watched her bolt. "She may not be confused… but I sure as hell am…"

-

Logan was getting antsy sitting still inside the Blackbird, his eyes were constantly trained on Deadpool, making sure that he didn't do anything stupid. The Professor had asked him to trust the man, which was probably the only reason Deadpool was still alive…

That, and, he couldn't for the life of him find a way to kill the man.

Deadpool had lapsed into an unexpected silence after he had told his story and now even looked slightly … thoughtful …

"That's it." Deadpool said suddenly, looking out the window. "That's where they all meet."

Logan took a moment to glance down to the ground as well.

"That's… creepy…" Kitty supplied, copying their motions.

In the darkness the building just looked like some sort of skeletal remains of a beast far larger and demonic than anything in current existence. Anything in the area directly surrounding it was dead or dying.

"You should see the inside." Deadpool said somberly.

"Stop that." Logan turned to Deadpool, annoyed with his new found seriousness. "You're freaking me out."

"Personally, I like the change." Storm said with a ghost of a smile.

"I think it means he's up to something." Logan gave Deadpool a wary glance and he shrugged.

"What could I possibly be up to, Wolvie?" Deadpool wagged a finger at him.

"Can we just get this over with?" Scott interrupted as the jet touched down a suitable distance away from the establishment.

"Everyone got the plan straight?" Logan asked sternly.

"Destroy everything in sight." Deadpool stated. "Aye-aye captain." he mock saluted.

Logan kept his eyes on him for another few moments, worried -no, positive- that Deadpool was going to kill everyone in that building.

"Well, Chuck," Logan muttered under his breath. "You told me to trust 'em."

Deadpool shot him a double thumbs-up.

"Everyone else got that?" Logan looked to everyone else for conformation. "Good." He growled. "Let's put this to an end."

Deadpool reached over his shoulder-

-

-Deadpool fluidly drew the blades strapped to him back and then spun each katana around in his fingers, again enjoying the feel of his muscles moving under his control again.

"Heyheyhey!" The ice boy shrank away from the movement. "Unnecessary!"

"Obviously you've never seen him work." Logan commented to the kid dryly. Ice boy's eye's widened and he stumbled back into the little girl.

"Watch it, Bobby." She snapped.

"Everyone get into positions." Logan growled, calling everyone's attention. "'Ro, you're with Scott, Bobby with Kitty, and you," Wolverine pointed at him. "You're with me."

"Fieldtrip!" Deadpool sang before leaping out of the jet.

The others separated and set out to their designated spot, waiting for the go signal. "Bandit?" Deadpool whispered into the communicator. "Bandit, we have three Smokey's at approximately six o'clock coming up fast."

"Stop that." Logan snatched the communicator out of his hands and quickly explained to Kitty that she wasn't 'Bandit', and there were no 'Smokey's'.

"You're no fun." Deadpool grumbled.

"Everyone in place?" Wolverine ignored him. He was met with four affirmatives. "Alright. Move in. Remember, stealth until we're caught. We're trying to get in as deep as we can before blowing it away. Clear?" He said looking directly at Deadpool.

Deadpool saluted.

"Move out." He called to everyone.

Stealthily Wolverine and Deadpool crawled forward. There were two guards on that particular side of the building.

"I'll take care of them." Wolverine growled, unsheathing his claws.

"No." Deadpool said.

"No?" Wolverine repeated, slightly stunned.

"No." Deadpool nodded. "You are too… 'growly'. You make too much noise. I'll take care of them."

Before Wolverine could object, Deadpool had dispatched both men silently and swiftly.

"Show off." Wolverine growled before following after him. BY the time he had reached the same point where Deadpool was, Deadpool had already taken the liberty of discreetly taking care of three more men, swiping their security cards.

"Come on," Deadpool nudged Wolverine with his elbow, trying to get a smile out of the man. "You can say it, I won't tell."

"Fine." Logan rumbled… Was that his actual voice? He should probably see a Doctor about that. "Good job." He said begrudgingly.

"What do you know about Throat Cancer?" Deadpool asked bluntly.

Before Wolverine could stab him, there was a loud _crack. _Deadpool felt something vaguely familiar.

What was it? Pain? Was that what it felt like? He couldn't remember exactly.

He looked down at his chest.

Bullet hole.

"Sonovabitch." He turned to his attacker, swinging the swords about in his hands so that they were in a ready position. "You are a dead man." He glared through the mask at the thin figure. Wolverine growled in barely restrained rage beside him.

"I could say the same thing to you, Wade." The attacker said calmly, stepping forward into the light. In their hand, there was a small gun with some sort of switch at the top. Thin fingers flipped the switch.

Deadpool suddenly became acutely aware of what pain felt like.

-

_Wah! Don't send Damien to kill me! I only shot Wade a little bit… and… uh… It's gonna get worse. *ducks behind computer*_


	12. Chapter 12

Pain Hurts.

Deadpool crumbled to the ground, his knees buckling without his permission. He had felt pain before, he'd been stabbed, shot, beaten, throttled, kicked, bitten, and jabbed, but they were all specks of insignificance on the scale that this new pain was measured on.

It vaguely registered in the back of his mind the sounds of metal clashing against metal. Were there people there with him?

He remembered a short, hairy, feral man… someone with a switch?

He cried out with the intensity of which the waves of burning, stinging, stabbing assaults were lead across his nerves. His muscles convulsed and he felt like throwing up.

"Wade." Someone's voice drifted into his mind. "Wade. Stand up."

Suddenly, without his consent, his spine was erect, his muscles were taught, and the pain was gone.

_Oh no… _Deadpool tried to move his jaw. His fingers. His legs. Anything. Nothing responded. _Nononononononono. _He chanted as he turned unwillingly to Logan.

"Deadpool?" Logan's gruff voice addressed him. Deadpool tried to make his tongue move like he had been able to talk last time, but it seemed they had learned their lesson the first time he sold them out.

"I'm sorry." The cold voice that had accompanied the pain sounded from behind him. "Deadpool's not here right now. If you leave a message, I'll make sure it gets back to him." The voice laughed like it had just told the funniest joke in the world.

There was a ripple effect of muscle contracting up his arm as he raised the blade clamped in his fingers up to Wolverine's throat.

"And, I'd like to thank you in advance for bringing this little pet project back to us." The voice added. "He was a very interesting test subject, useful to have around, without an actual use. At least we figured out how to control his movements. That is going to be helpful when trying to take over your little friend's mind."

There were more sounds around him, but Deadpool stopped paying attention, letting his body do someone else's will.

Someone was going to die for this.

Someone was going to die _painfully. _

-

Wolverine swallowed shallowly, aware of the sharp point against his throat. Deadpool- no, not Deadpool, Deadpool was gone- held it in place.

"Aw, hell." Logan said.

There were three seconds of silence. Of cold a calm as each side waited for the other to move. Three very short seconds.

And then… all hell broke loose.

_Snikt._

_Crack._

_Boom._

_-_

Kitty bolted, phasing through walls and barriers, dragging Bobby along with her.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, panicking. It was some sort of pained moan that reached loudly into the night.

"Stop…Phasing…" Bobby called between gasps of air. "Head… hurts…"

"Hurry up!" Kitty hauled him closer and doubled her pace, heading toward the moan.

She rounded a corner, panting heavily. The moaning suddenly cut off.

Deadpool was standing, every muscle tense, blood pooling slightly at his feet, sword in his hand pressed against Logan's throat. There was another figure there as well… one that she didn't recognize. His back was to her.

"Aw, hell." Kitty said.

_Snikt. _

_Crack._

_Boom._

_-_

Kurt had elected to stay in the Blackbird should there be any need for a quick get away. He kept mumbling prayers as he paced back and forth through the cabin, trying to put his hectic thoughts at ease.

His ears perked up as he heard some gut-wrenching sound. Concentrating, he tried to focus on it.

The smell of brimstone filled the cabin and when the smoke cleared, Kurt had disappeared and in an instant reappeared somewhere else.

Storm's feet touched the ground lightly as the rain she had caused started to mist the air. Scott never ceased to be amazed by her control.

"What is that sound?" She turned to Scott suddenly. They both listened to the horrible sound of pain radiating from somewhere.

"That's weird-." Scott started to say. Suddenly there was a loud crack and they were surrounded by smoke, something grabbed both of their arms and there was another clap.

Scott had been teleported before, and recognized the feeling almost instantly. When the smoke cleared a second time, Kurt let go of his arm and Scott took a moment to analyze the situation.

He was standing behind Logan, Deadpool was holding a katana against his throat, and there was a man standing behind him with a gun of some sort in his hand. Behind him were Kitty and Bobby. A security alarm started to blare.

"Aw, hell." Scott said.

-

_Snikt. _

Logan extended his claws, swiping away the sword and stabbing the other fist into Deadpool's chest, directly above where his heart would be situated.

Deadpool stood still, not wincing with pain or counter attacking. Very steadily he took a step back out of the claws, raised his arms that still were connected to the swords and swiped solidly.

Logan ducked below it just in the nick of time.

Deadpool rotated his shoulders and held the swords up in a ready position. The hallway behind him started to fill with the men in charge of security.

-

_Crack. _

Kurt teleported from behind Logan to behind Deadpool, attempting to knock the man's feet out from underneath him. Deadpool deftly jumped into the air, surrendering his attack against Wolverine to launch a double attack against Wolverine and Nightcrawler. The twin swords glittered in the sparse lighting as they quickly zipped through the air, slicing at the spots where Logan and Kurt had just been.

Kitty ran forward, phasing through the man with the gun and one of Deadpool's blades as she made her way to Logan's side.

Bobby iced up the hallway entrance, blocking the security, as he jogged up to Logan as well.

"Storm!" Logan yelled, nursing an already healing cut. "Take this place down!"

"What about Deadpool?" She asked, concerned.

"That's not Deadpool." He said.

Storm nodded. She turned her head to the ceiling and her eyes started to turn white.

"No," Scott said suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at him, confused. The security was already almost through the ice, Deadpool was quickly recovering from Wolverine's attack, and the man with the gun had disappeared altogether. Now was no time to be stalling.

"I'll do it." Said Scott. "Everyone get out."

There were protests, but as soon as Scott reached up for his visor, everyone was happy to let Kurt teleport them out of there.

Scott's finger's hesitated for a moment, unused to the feeling of actually taking the visor off, but did his bidding anyway, removing the only shield the world had against him.

_-_

_Boom. _

-

Rogue grunted slightly as she used her arms to lift herself off the ground again. 98...99...100...

She flipped onto her back and started on curl ups. 1...2...3...

She was getting restless in this place. The walls were shrinking, the air was getting colder, the place itself became very intimidating.

She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was happening somewhere, and that it would have been different if she had been there to help.

Remy played solitaire by himself, trying not to be too obvious about watching her burn up some of her energy.

He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was happening somewhere, and he had somehow caused it.

Only, in his case, it wasn't just a feeling he had. He knew it was a fact.


	13. Chapter 13

Remy flicked the cards around in his hands at a quickening rate. One day. He had one day left. One. Day. He was going to die, or he was going to let an innocent girl do the dying for him.

God, he needed a smoke.

He looked around swiftly. Rogue had just gone to take a shower (locking the door to the bathroom and then propping a chair against it on her way) so the entire place was empty. He could sneak out for a minute. Maybe he'd even get some furniture or something while he was out…

_No. _He shook the thought off. Being her was much more important than having a smoke or stretching his legs. _Besides, _He thought smoothly. _Who's gonna wolf whistle when Rogue gets out of the shower if I'm not here? _

As if she could hear his thoughts, which was impossible considering his shield against such things, Rogue suddenly called out. "I'm coming out now, Swamp Rat. If you make a sound, I will end you."

He was about to laugh, but she exited the bathroom and whatever snarky remark he was about to make stuck in his lungs.

"Stop looking at me!" Rogue blushed as she hunched her shoulders and wrapped her towel tighter around herself.

"It's gettin' harder as time goes by, _cherie._" Remy found his voice again and could hardly keep the grin off his face. She glared at him fiercely. "Did anyone tell ya' what pretty eyes ya' have?" He added as an afterthought.

She growled something terribly obscene about how his mother should have raised him better before she stomped away.

"Goodness," He thought out loud. "If that made her mad, she's mos' definitely not gonna like the clothes I got 'er."

As if on cue, Rogue's voice filled the place.

"Is this a joke?" She screeched. "Gambit!"

He laughed to himself, but again he was cut off by a distracting sound. His blood went cold.

It was the sound of a cell phone vibrating against a solid surface. His cell phone to be precise. The one that only one person knew the number of.

Like a ghost, he rose out of his chair, his feet tread lightly on the floor, going along with his hopes that maybe he could just cease to exist before he had to answer that phone. He noticed that even his fingers were pale as he reached out for the phone, still buzzing in the annoyance of being ignored.

Flipping the phone open, he stared at it for a few more seconds, dread filling the cavity in his chest which had been light with ease a few moments ago.

He put the phone up to his ear.

"Hello, Gambit." The chill of the voice made him shiver.

"Hello." He barely managed to gasp out. "May I ask, why exactly I'm havin' de pleasure o' hearin' yo' voice?" His accent made itself more prominent merely because his tongue felt too thick to pronounce all of the words.

"And here I thought we were becoming friends, my little sacrificial pawn." The voice laughed.

"Oh goody," Remy sneered. "I can feel de love."

"And I, disposable component, have more important things to do than sit around and wait for you to deliver the power source." The voice sneered right back, only pulling off in a much more terrifying manner than Remy had.

Remy cringed. "I'm workin' on it." He stated boldly, keeping his cool like he always did, his face a composed mask.

"Are you, discarded plaything?" The voice asked coldly. "Are you working on it? Or are you flirting with it?"

Remy felt the blood drain from his face… maybe even his entire body… His head felt dizzy and he was unsure if his feet were still touching the floor.

"Oh… was your 'safe house' a secret while you stalled, broken product?" The voice seemed to be having fun with toying with him.

"Stop that!" Remy roared. "I am not your sacrificial pawn, I am not your disposable component, I am not your discarded plaything, and I am not your broken product!"

"Are you not?" The voice mused, unfazed by his outburst. "Because, Last I checked, Remy LeBeau, failed test number 13, I own you. From your demon eyes to your deck of cards. You owe me your life. Now, I will give you another day to get over whatever emotional dilemma you seem to be going through, but let this fact be abundantly clear- I. Want. That. Girl. Understood?"

Remy nodded.

"Good." The voice said as if he could see the nod. "Remember that."

The voice disconnected.

"Gambit?" A voice from reality called out for him, but he wasn't quite ready yet to respond for the moment. The crackling of energy filled his hearing.

-

Rogue walked into his bedroom, wandering in her search for him. Where did he go? She was gone for four minutes and then _poof. _He and her needed to have a little chit chat about the clothes he had supplied her with.

A good word to describe them was 'slinky', followed closely by 'revealing', 'exposing', and 'skimpy'. The jeans weren't so bad, in fact they were pretty comfy in the crazy tight pants sort of way. The shirts are were it just got ridiculous. She had searched for a good three minutes until she had found a dark green one that covered a little bit more of her than the other ones, and a lotta bit less than she would have liked. The neck scooped down low enough that it was almost reminiscent of an Emma Frost blouse*. It cut off barely below her rib cage, exposing much more skin than she was comfortable with. At least the damn thing had sleeves, which seemed like a waste of fabric in contrast to the rest of the shirt. And she did not want to _think _about the underwear he had supplied her with.

"Gambit?" She rounded the corner so that she was standing in his sleeping quarters. She was a little stunned by what she found.

He was standing in the middle of the room, unmoving, phone pressed against his ear despite the fact that the person on the other side of that conversation had long since departed. His face was contorted with hate. The phone glowed at an ever increasing magenta.

"Gambit!" Rogue slapped the phone out of his hand and pushed him to the ground as it exploded. The knock on the ground broke him out of his spell and he twisted around to be on top of her, taking the brunt of the explosion.

"_Je suis vraiment désolé!" _He apologized quickly in French, his mind finally catching up with his body.

"Three feet, Cajun!" She reminded him of the rules she had set upon her agreement to stay, on of which being that he granted her three feet of space at all times. Why was he acting so weird?

"Sorry! Sorry!" He said again, this time in English as he gathered himself up and scrambled across the room.

"Are you all right…?" Rogue asked hesitantly. She had never seen Gambit loose his cool before.

"Yeah," He ran his fingers through his hair, slowly regaining composure. "I'll be fine…"

Rogue looked at him skeptically, and then at the scorch mark that had been the phone a few moments ago. He had spoken in first person. Something was up. Something _bad. _

_-_

Scott slumped the ground, covering his eyes with his hand as an extra precaution against accidental laser-blasts. He remembered when he was younger, he had wondered if the beams that came from his eyes ever ended. It had never failed to make him chuckle if he thought of an Astronaut narrowly avoiding a bright red beam in the middle of space before turning around and going 'What the hell was that?'

He laughed slightly at the old joke as he replaced the visor, inspecting the damage he had done.

Smoke drifted from the charred remains of the place that had inspired so much hate and fear amongst the X-men. Some scorched bodies littered the ground here and there, some moaning out for help or mercy. The wail of sirens echoed in the distance.

Hot _damn _he was good.

For the first time in a while he felt a smile split his face.

The best part was, unless the government was willing to explain what exactly that facility had been for this entire ordeal was going to be skipped over in the media.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Scott whistled a cheery tune, leaning back leisurely as he walked and stepping over bodies as he made his way back to Blackbird.

Right outside the door he recomposed his face to look grim.

-

Logan was angry. Logan, being a generally angry being, was well acquainted with the emotion, in fact, it was his favorite drinking buddy, but this was the sort of angry that destroyed Japan in one scaly, fiery attack.

Deadpool was probably still alive. No, not probably, absolutely. Deadpool was _absolutely _still alive, but he wasn't playing for the X-men anymore, whether it was against his will or not.

Rogue's trail had been left stagnant for too long and would have probably faded by now, giving him no means to find her and make sure his promise remained intact. And she was with _Gambit. _

A feral growl that had been snaking around in his throat finally broke loose at its full effect. He slammed his fist down on the switch board and everyone in the Blackbird jumped, all of them so terrified of Logan in this state they didn't dare speak.

He heard the seal on the door break with a metallic hiss, letting someone into the Blackbird. Logan recognized Scott's smell before he saw him.

"So the Shade master decided to finally show up! We can finally get out of the damn place!" Logan roared, turning on Scott. Scott looked like hell, taking down the entire building had obviously been a burden on the man. "Get moving!" Logan barked.

"Don't you understand?" Scott looked up at him, a glare evident despite the fact that his eyes were covered. "The rocks were falling! Debris everywhere! People running, trying to run out of the way! But, it was my eyes. My eyes! Crying out in pain, calling out for their loved ones! I could see it on their faces! The hard work of other's being torn down just because I took off a piece of plastic! _Don't you understand?" _Scott demanded, on the verge of tears.

"Dude, calm down." Logan reached out hesitantly and put a comforting hand on Scott's shoulder, his own anger ebbing away.

"_Don't touch me!" _Scott pulled away. "Just drive the damn plane!"

_Jesus, _Logan thought as he watched the other man sit down. _I thought I had problems._

Scott leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and humming to himself. _It's like diffusing a baby. A feral, clawed, indestructible baby. _

-

_* Seriously, Emma. Put on a shirt. _


	14. Chapter 14

_Okay, okay, quick note on the way the last chapter ended, I always had this sneaky feeling that on the inside Scott was just an infant, but kept up this 'stick up the ass' persona to keep things in order- proof, him using his "stress level" to diffuse Wolverine. Yeah, yeah, it was lame, but it made me laugh pretty hard. And I felt that that particular chapter needed some comic relief. (And so naturally, I just thought Scott Summers) ((that was a joke)) _

_BACK TO STORY! _

_(Oh, and Wolverine totally said 'dude' in the last chapter. That. Happened.) _

_-_

Logan spared Scott another look. "You okay, Slim?" He asked. Scott's attitude had changed very little since his outburst on the Blackbird, now that they were back at the mansion, he was hoping maybe Scott wouldn't be so broken about having to burn down an entire building, possibly killing several people in the process.

Scott nodded gravely. Logan would never know that he had been played like a Gameboy.

"I'm gonna see if I can pick up a trail." Logan dismissed everyone with a nod of the head.

He made his way to where he had last seen Rogue, in the demolished part of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngster's that had once been the grand entrance, though now it more resembled a grave yard. There was a pool of dried blood that had been Rogue earlier that day.

Though Logan knew her scent by heart he felt obligated to refresh his senses before continuing the search for her. Snagging one of her gloves to aide him, he traveled around the perimeter of the mansion.

"Logan?" Kurt came up behind from behind him. "Did you find her?"

"No." He said bluntly, straining to keep the remorse out of his voice. "I got nothing."

Kurt looked crushed, but at the same time like he had expected it. "I understand." He said. "Forge wanted to talk vith you." He added after a moments pause.

Logan grunted conformation that he understood and then made his way back to the still intact part of the mansion.

"Whaddya want, Forge?" Logan grumbled as soon as he reached the unscathed labs that Forge operated in.

"I have good news and I have bad news." Forge offered.

"Bad news first."

"The chip cannot be hacked, shut down, or controlled by an out side source." Forge said, wielding the microchip that had once lived in Deadpool's ass.

"Great." Logan deadpanned.

"Good news- It can be shorted out." Forge smiled widely, and then let some of his own doubt settle in on what he had just said. "If the person survives." He added in a mumble.

"How much would it take to short them out?" Logan glared at his fellow mutant, wondering, not for the first time, what exactly his job description was.

"Uh…" Forge looked back over his calculations. "Damn near fatal amounts."

"Define 'Damn near fatal' for me." Logan said coolly, doing a very good job of keeping his claws to himself for the time being.

"This may be a navel idea for you," Forge started toying around with some of the electronics he had sitting around to keep his nerves at bay. "But there's this thing that normal people do called 'dying'. This event takes place when your body ceases to function. The amount of energy needed to short out the chip can bring about this event sooner than most people would generally care for." He explained as if to a small child.

"Will it work on Deadpool?" Logan cut to the chase.

"Oh, yeah." Forge scoffed. "His healing factor makes your healing factor look like a sissy."

"Will it work on Rogue?" He decided to ignore Forge's quip for the moment.

"Uh…" Forge said again, debating whether he was going to lie his ass off or loose another limb.

"'Uh' is not on the list of acceptable answers." Logan growled.

"No." He said. "Her mutation would absorb the energy before it could actually do any damage."

Logan nodded deftly, the words seeping into his brain, slowly taking their full effect.

"Logan…" Forge ventured to capture his attention. "You do realize what this means. If we let any of those people have her it could potentially be the beginning of the end for all mutants. We'd have to-."

"I know!" Logan cut him off with a snarl. "I've been thinking about it ever since I saw that damn file. But, I am not going to give up on her that easy. I made that kid a promise, and only if that is the last option that can possibly be thought of will anyone on this team take that action. Understood?"

Forge shrank back in fear, nodding readily.

Logan growled deeply in his throat as he walked away. He had to find the kid before anyone tried to take over her, or he was going to have to kill her.

-

"_Petit," _Remy said without looking up from the book he was holding. "I'm fine. You can stop watchin' me now."

Rogue grumbled something indiscernible about how he was a big lair and continued to watch him like a hawk just as she had been doing for the past hour.

Remy avoided looking at her at all costs.

Looking at her made him feel guilty and dirty because she was probably the exact opposite of him. Rogue fought the good fight, gritted her teeth and stood her ground when she knew she was right, attempted to make amends when she knew she was wrong. She had a purpose. Remy LeBeau fought when it suited him, manipulated his way into the 'right' and was very seldom admitted he was wrong, because he was very seldom wrong.

He turned around and stared directly into her eyes, attempting to dissuade her from her concern for the rat that was Remy LeBeau.

"Remy promises he's fine." He said in a soothing manner.

It took a few moments and the widening of her eyes with confusion for him to realize what exactly he had just said. He cursed and start pacing immediately.

"Remy?" Rogue looked at him curiously. "Is that your real name."

"_Qu'ai-je fait? Je sais ce que j'ai fait. J'ai tué une jeune fille innocente. Remy LeBeau tué une jeune fille. Pourquoi? Parce que Remy Lebeau est un rat. Oui, mon nom est Remy. Vous devez le mémoriser afin que vous avez quelqu'un à maudire avec votre dernier soupir!" _He raved in French.

"Remy," She soothed, her smooth voice reminding him of the lazy days he had left behind in his once-was home. It sounded like the ring of laughter, splashes in a lake, the sizzle of the sun. It felt like smiles and warmth and _comfort. _

He allowed himself a moment of relief, of the small belief that everything was going to be okay, that his mistakes weren't too numerous to be mended. The moment ended too quickly. He sank down to the floor, his head made harsh contact with the wood, but he deserved it.

He felt her concern, her confusion and mostly her will to make things _okay _as she sat down beside him on the ground.

"What happened?" She asked softly, reaching out as if to put a comforting hand on him, but quickly rethought her decision and recoiled her arm into her chest.

"_Je vous ai tué." _He looked up into her eyes, speaking in French on purpose so that he could tell her the truth, but she wouldn't understand.

"I don't speak French," She reminded him part a small smile.

"I know."

"You aren't going to tell me then, are you?" How does something like her exist? So completely perfect that she was literally untouchable. Even now, in the presence of a demon, she was understanding.

He mumbled something in response that even he didn't completely understand.

"That's alright." Rogue said. After a moment of silence she bit her lip and then looked back down to him. "Can I call you Remy?" She asked tentatively.

He chuckled a little at her. Innocent. Sheltered. Untouched. Sassy. Quick-Tempered. She was certainly one of a kind.

"Yes, _chérie." _He smiled at her sadly. "Y' can call me Remy."

Rogue smiled down at him. _Remy. _She liked that name. If she was being honest with herself, she liked the man that name belonged to too.

-

Deadpool was stuck in a contorted position under a mountain of rubble.

Hot _damn _that guy with the laser eyes was good.

Deadpool waited for his muscles to receive some sort of signal to function by thinking.

Thought was something Deadpool did quite often, but generally at speeds rivaling that of a bird of prey diving for a dying rodent, and he acted upon those thought even faster than that. Now that he couldn't move his thoughts had more time to organize properly (somewhat organized… kinda properly) things were starting to make more and more sense.

The MRD had sent in a small army to find hot chick. Weapon X had sent him (pretending to be working with the MRD). But what about Sinister? Who had _he _sent in.

_Just think about it, Wade. _He prompted himself. _Who else has shown interest in hot chick? _Logan seemed pretty adamant about finding her, but Deadpool just assumed that was because she was hot. Though it was creepy that Logan was hounding her. Ew. She was way too young for him. Besides, she was probably more into the mercenary type, because, who wasn't?

Lightning struck his brain.

Or maybe she was into thieves.

_Oh. Snap. _Deadpool thought immediately he started hoping that someone was going to come bail him out and _soon. _He _did not _want to miss this.

-

_Qu'ai-je fait? Je sais ce que j'ai fait. J'ai tué une jeune fille innocente. Remy LeBeau tué une jeune fille. Pourquoi? Parce que Remy Lebeau est un rat. Oui, mon nom est Remy. Vous devez le mémoriser afin que vous avez quelqu'un à maudire avec votre dernier soupir! - _What have I done? I know what I've done. I've killed an innocent girl. Remy LeBeau killed a girl. Why? Because Remy LeBeau is a rat. Yes my name is Remy. You should remember it so that you have someone to curse with your dying breaths.

(_Or, so the internet says) _

_Je vous ai tué - _I've killed you


	15. Chapter 15

_Due to popular demand (and harassment) (From Bingo) I have gone the extra mile and written a long chapter, even though I think I might have a complex now (From Bingo) And yes, I know the Sinister thing was easy to spot from a mile away, thank you for telling me (Bingo) If I don't update for a while, it's because my computer was stabbed in the face (Courtesy of Bingo) _

_Extra high five for Azymk for correcting my French in the last chapter, I will fix as soon as I can! _

_The chapter where things are (finally) set in motion._

_-_

Remy felt like he was stealing something. Though, he was familiar with theft in itself, usually he was physically taking something. This was more intimate and he felt simultaneously elated and depressed.

Rogue snuggled a little closer to him on the couch and he tried to remember how exactly he had gotten like this. Nevermind, he didn't actually care. How dare she go to sleep! It was only three in the friggin afternoon! …Not that he was complaining… No, seriously, how did this happen? Wait, wait… he didn't care.

He ran the hand that wasn't trapped underneath Rogue through his hair. And the worst part was he couldn't even say crude things to her because she was asleep. Life was so damn unfair sometimes. Except for the part where a beautiful woman had fallen asleep on him… that part was actually pretty sweet.

He groaned to himself as she moved _closer _to him. She even _smelled _good. Like… magnolias and vanilla.

"Nonono." He stealthily pushed himself away from her and started pacing around.

Rogue stirred when Gambit -Remy- moved out from underneath her, immediately she blushed by how close they had just been she opened her mouth to say a hurried apology, but she noticed that he was muttering to himself while he was pacing, unaware that she had woken.

"I'm gon' be dead by 'dis time tomorrow… no use gettin' attached… she is pretty though…"

"DEAD?" Rogue heard her voice escape her lips without her consent.

"_Merde, _You're awake."

"Things bettah start becomin' very clear 'round here, _Remy, _or people or gon' start fallin' inta comas." Rogue snarled completely done with being understanding now that lives were on the line.

"It's actually a really great story," Remy gulped as Rogue started advancing on him and he in turn started to retreat. "You're gon' laugh when I tell ya." He tried to assure her. She didn't seem convinced.

"Times up." She said, pulling off her glove.

"Woa!" He tried to dodge around her bare hand. She ducked to the ground and attempted to swipe his legs out from underneath him. He leaped out from her reach and landed with a forward roll, swiftly moving into a defensive position from there.

Rogue jumped after him, attempting to get her fingers on any bare patch of skin she could find. The only problem was, the only thing exposed was his face.

She swiped again at his face and he used her forward momentum against her, slipping out his bo staff and using it to knock her feet out from underneath her.

"Oof!" She hit the floor slightly winded but immediately countered by bucking out her legs and catching his chin with her heels.

"I ain't tryin' to hurt ya', _chere._" Remy complained, rubbing his chin with one hand and spinning the staff around in his other.

"That makes one of us." Rogue growled, lunging at him again. He kept knocking her hands away and she was quickly loosing her patience with this game. Suddenly, she got a horrible wicked idea that she knew would bring a quick end to this encounter.

Falling on purpose into one of chair next to counter all that could be heard for a moment in the entirety of the safe house was the sound of fabric tearing.

"Oh darn…" Rogue said airily, edging forward. "My shirt."

Remy was thoroughly distracted at this point. He didn't notice how close she was until it was too late.

"Hah!" She crowed, grabbing the front of his shirt and dragging him forward until his lips crushed against hers.

If she wanted to rationalize why she had chosen this particular course of action as opposed to touching him with any other part of her now abundantly exposed skin… well… she couldn't… Damn. She had actually just wanted to kiss the bastard.

.Damn.

For a moment or two Remy was just confused… Happy… but confused… and really happy… but still _really _confused. Was she going to hate him after she found out what he had done? Probably. Was she going to kill him? Probably. Did she just pull him into a kiss while wearing the tatters of what used to be a really hot shirt? That was an affirmative.

It took about a half a second for Rogue powers to start the familiar tug, ebbing away at his life force and pulling at his memories-

_He crouched down behind a trash can. Rain was pelting down at an ever increasing rate, plastering his clothes to his body. He was small, skinny, and cursed. None of which were good things when trying to survive on the streets._

_All he needed right now was some food. And to get some food, he needed some money. And, to get some money, he needed to steal it. _

_He spotted a tall man in an expensive suit waiting under the alcove of one of the shadier buildings. Either he was waiting for the rain to stop or he was waiting for someone in particular. The man's _shoes _had probably been purchased with more money than the boy's soul would probably sell for. The man seemed to have money to share. Remy intended to relieve him of some of it. _

_A feeling nagged at him, telling him it was a bad idea to try and pick that man's pocket, but he quickly shrugged it away. _

_It wasn't like that man was the King of Thieves himself, what could possibly go wrong? _

_-_

_To say Tante Mattie was a quick tempered woman would be like saying a shark was just a guppy. She was going to _murder him _when she found the broken plate. Oh man, he should have written up a will while he was still young. Not that seven was old but, quite honestly, everyone was surprised he had survived this long. First the streets, then the Thieves Guild. He certainly lead a charmed life. _

_He scrambled around the kitchen floor, attempting to pick up all of the shards of porcelain that had once created a full piece. _

_Oh God, she was going to _kill him! _The only question was how? Was she going to bash him over the head with her rolling pin until his brains leaked out? Was she going to tie him up and then throw him into the swamp? Was she going to tell Belle that he stole her markers? _

_He was dead! _

_He heard a slight whining from somewhere. His demon eyes shot around rapidly, searching out the source. Finally, he looked down at his hands. _

_Why were the pieces of the plate glowing pink? _

_That was weird. _

_He dropped the pieces of the plate quickly back to the ground. _

BOOM.

_-_

_There was blindfold over his eyes and the rest of his body was completely covered. He was trying to get control over it, but nothing was working. He couldn't even sleep in the same house as his family for fear of charging something accidentally and sending the entire mansion to kingdom come. _

_That's why he was here. This man promised he could help. He said that he could make the pain stop. He said that he could keep everyone safe. _

_Nathaniel Essex. _

_He just wanted to take the blindfold off and be accepted by the first family that had ever cared about him. He wanted to playfully punch Henri, get into a 'who-can be-more-stubborn' contest with Jean Luc, have Tante Mattie scold him for something evil he had done, beat his cousins at poker, laugh with Belle, flirt with pretty girls, sleep in his own bed, walk in his own paths. _

_That's why he was here. _

_He wanted to live. _

_-_

_Screaming while he was strapped down, charging everything in sight and fighting against everyone trying to hold him down, he tried to claw his way out of this mess._

"_Liar!" He screamed out, fighting to get away from the metal slab._

"_Liar…" Essex mused, turning over the word, standing away from the brawl with a cool demeanor. "I'm just giving you what you asked for Remy."_

"_I never asked for this!" He spat. _

"_I'm solving all of your problems." Essex tried to be diplomatic. "I'm making the pain go away." _

"_You never told me what I'd have to do in return! You lied to me!" He blew up some of the medical equipment and sent those trying to pin him back a few feet, but they just kept coming. _

"_What are you going to do if you get out of here, Remy?" Essex asked. "Who are you going to turn to? Who will take you in with your demon eyes and no control? Whether you like it or not, Remy. I am your only choice." _

"_You're a liar!" He screamed again, tears brushing against his eyes, but he sounded less convinced of his words. His struggles became less pronounced. _

"_Remy." Essex took a step forward. "Wouldn't it be worth it? To be able to touch things. To be able to look at things. To be with your family. To know that they were safe from you and your uncontrollable powers. Wouldn't it be worth whatever I ask for you to do?" _

_His flailing limbs started feeling thicker, unwilling to fight. It would be worth it. Whatever it was… it would be worth it. _

_He stopped fighting. And started hoping. _

_-_

_Oh, yippee… The X-men were here. _

_He was on another job from the boss man, still squaring away his debt, but at least he had control. He had to steal the MRD files on all of the mutants they had captured, and for some reason the boy scout group known as the X-men had found out. _

_Again- yippee. _

"_Find something you like, bub?" The short, hairy man that seemed to qualify as their new leader asked in his grating voice. Wolverine. _

"_Actually," He swung around so that he could look at all of them, swinging out his bo staff and a deck of card simultaneously. He was going to wipe the floor with them. His resolve to do so faltered slightly when his eyes landed on a delicious looking thing standing to Wolverine's left. The uniform she was wearing was skin tight, leaving very little to the imagination, though he had no qualms with that. Her eyes were an impossible green and her hair had a white stripe the left him wondering if it was natural or not. "Yes." _

_The girl hadn't missed the look had given her, and apparently so had Wolverine._

"_Watch it," They both said in unison only breaking when one said 'Bub' and the other said 'Swamp Rat'. _

"_Let's get this show on the road." One of the others, a short brunette, declared, obviously annoyed she wasn't getting the same attention as her teammate. Though, if she had been paying attention she would have noticed that the ice boy was more than willing to oblige._

"_Couldn't agree with y' more." He said charging the deck of cards and casting them at the roof above the 'hero's' heads, all except the girl with the stripe, effectively buried them under a mountain of concrete and metal. _

"_Hmm…" She looked around at his boldness in singling her out for a fight. "Bad move." He noticed for the first time her Mississippi drawl. It reminded him of home. _

"_We'll see, chérie_." _He said with a smile, waiting for her to make the first move._

_She charged at him and he swung around his staff. She phased through it and her fist caught his jaw. _

So we got a phaser. _He thought, figuring that in with his attack strategy. This time when he swiped at her, he feinted left before striking right to catch her off guard. It would have worked if she hadn't suddenly appeared behind him. _

And super speed? _He turned to her with disbelief. _

_She cocked back her fist and hit him. He flew across the room. _

_And _super strength? That was just cheating.

"_What exactly is y'r power?" His speech effected by the growing bruise on his jaw. _

"_What's your's?" She asked with a smirk as she took of one of her gloves with relish, but the use of all of those powers seemed to be wearing her out and she didn't sound nearly as sassy as she had a few minutes ago. _

_He didn't know what her ungloved hand would do- Electric shock maybe?- but he knew it was something he should be wary of because of all the bravado that surrounded it._

_He backed away slowly, feigning retreat while he composed another plan. Pulling out another deck of cards, he charged a good percent of them and threw them at her. She leaped out of the way and, to his horror, stayed suspended in the air. The metal around the facility began to groan._

"_Magnetism?" He looked at her. "This is just ridiculous!" _

_He saw the cold sweat break out across her brow as she aimed her hands at the mass of destruction that had trapped her teammates. She rose higher in the air, grunting with the effort it took to lift all of the metal material she could off of them. _

_He watched in awe. The girl was powerful, no doubt, but it looked like it was killing her to use all of that power. He knew what that felt like. _

_The mountain she had been moving suddenly crashed to the ground, a small distance away from where it had been, as she passed out from the effort it took. _

"_Merde!" He leaped out to catch her, making an attempt to make sure she didn't become mortally wounded by the fall. He tried to guild the landing with a forward roll so that they would both be unscathed by this little adventure, but he over compensated her her weight and hit the ground hard. _

"_Dammit!" He clutched his side. Broken ribs. Plural. He looked around, still holding the girl in his arms and looked around at the damage they had done. Well, well, well. It wasn't every day he ran into someone as destructive as he was. _

_Her breath hitched in her throat in what sounded like an unconscious gasp of pain. _

"_Merde!" He repeated, swear words being the only thing he could communicate at the moment. He had almost forgot that she could be hurt. He ran his fingers down her rib cage, checking for any breaks that could hinder her breathing. _

Snikt.

_He felt the blood leave his face as he looked up at Wolverine. Whoopsie… forgot about Wolverine._

"_It's not what it looks like!" He quickly withdrew his hands from the girl's chest. _

"_Oh, it better not be." He growled taking a step forward, probably so that he could run the Cajun through. _

"_Logan," The girl coughed in his arms, coming to. "Stop. He saved me." She sat up and Wolverine pulled her over to him, swiftly checking her over for injuries. "Let him live." _

"_You sure, Rogue?" Wolverine asked incredulously. _

_Rogue. _

_He smirked. _

_Her name was Rogue. _

_-_

"_Rogue?" He looked from Essex to the picture on the file, and then back to Essex. "You want Rogue?" _

"_Yes." Essex said simply with only the slight undertone of superiority he always kept with him. _

"_No." He glared directly at Essex. "I won' do it." _

"_Remy, Remy, Remy," Essex clucked his tongue. "What did I tell you about saying 'No' to me. Though you were a bit of a failed experiment, I still gave you what I promised. I gave you a life. If you say 'No' to me, I can take it back just as easily. You are going to find the girl. You are going to bring the girl to me." _

_He was conflicted. Could he actually hand Rogue over to this man? _

_Could he kill her like that? _

_-_

_He shocked himself_

_-_

_He let the card burst against his skin._

_-_

_He charged his shirt._

_-_

_.Damn. _

Rogue pulled away, feeling disoriented. The contact had only lasted seconds, but it had felt like a lifetime. Remy fell to the ground, unconscious. It took her a moment to digest everything she had learned.

"Remy Etienne LeBeau!" She roared. "You are the dumbest Swamp Rat that has ever crawled around on the planet!" Fuming, she almost didn't notice her gloves start to turn a bright magenta.

Quickly stripping them off and throwing them away from her, she ducked behind the couch when the exploded. Dammit, why was the world so bright? Surely there wasn't this much light in it a minute ago.

She stumbled away into Remy's bedroom because it was darker, straightening to find a mirror in front of her.

_Nice. _She ran her fingers across her abdomen. "No!" She physicaly slapped herself. She was Rogue. Not Remy. Rogue. She rooted around his stuff until she found a shirt that covered her up and a pair of gloves that fit her and swiping a pair of his glasses to cover up the red on black eyes she had borrowed, all the while mumbling about the horrible things she was going to do to him.

_Why don't y' jus' run? Remy's unconscious an' he was already gon' let you go. He won' take it too hard. _The Remy in her head told her.

_Because you're stupid. _She told him. _You're not gonna die. Not if I have something to say about it. _

_How exactly do ya' plan to keep Remy alive den? _He mocked her.

She didn't answer him.

_Chere. _He seemed to figure out her plan all own his own. _Don' do that! Remy's not worth it!_

_Isn't he? _She thought as the phased through the floor.


	16. Chapter 16

Rogue tugged lightly on the black sleeves of the black shirt she had commandeered trying to get comfortable. Not that she was in a comfortable situation, phone booths in general were just uncomfortable.

The phone in her hand broadcast a ring.

She continued to fiddle with the sleeve as she waited for someone to pick up.

"Look," Kitty's voice said tersely when she abruptly picked up the phone Rogue was calling. "I don't know who this is, but unless it's pretty friggin important, I'm hanging up now."

"I'd say it be pretty important." Rogue drawled coolly, still suffering from a borrowed Cajun accent.

"ROGUE!" Kitty screeched, stuck between an ecstatic or outraged response. "Where are you? We have been so worried, why didn't you call us earlier? Where is Gambit? Did he hurt you? If he hurt you he is _so dead. _Have you seen anything suspicious? Just wait until I tell you what happened to Deadpool!"

"Kitty." Rogue cut off the other girl's ramblings with a small smile. "I don't have time to talk fo' long. I need you guys to go pick up Gambit, he be a lil' unconscious." She gave Kitty the address of the safe house she had left Remy in.

"Why?" Kitty asked. Rogue was unsure if it was a 'why' to why they needed to pick him up, or 'why' to why he was unconscious.

"Katherine Pryde." Rogue's voice was admonishing. "Don't ask question to which you don' want de answer to."

"Where are you?" Kitty repeated one of her earlier questions.

"About to do something stupid." Rogue replied smartly.

"What stupid?" Kitty voice reached high with panic. "Don't do anything! I'll go get Mr. Logan!"

There was the sound of panting as Kitty took off sprinting to go find Logan.

_Great, _Rogue rolled her eyes. _This is not going the way I wanted it too. _

_You shoulda jus' left Remy out of this. _The Remy in her head said.

_Shut up, I'm still mad at you. _

_Your plan is dumb. _He replied in a child-like manner.

"Wait on sec." Kitty said breathlessly, probably having to run around all of the mansion because she couldn't phase electronics without ruining them.

"Just go get Gambit!" Rogue snapped. "If he's half as smart as he thinks he is, he'll figure out what's going on!"

_Click. _

"Was that Rogue?" Logan looked at Kitty.

"We have to go, like, right now!" Kitty screamed, dragging him away, explaining what Rogue had said between phasing.

-

Remy was unconscious… that was the extent of his knowledge of the world at the moment. He was unconscious and Rogue had kissed him. Though, initially pleased by this development, he quickly realized what exactly that meant. That meant she knew. She knew everything.

Not good.

He toyed around with the idea of what she would do with that information. Just an assumption here- She hadn't killed him- So, what was she planning? Pretty much any way he chose to look at it, he was going to be a dead man. Unless Rogue did something incredibly stupid and self destructive, which he seriously doubted. But, if she had, which was highly improbable, she would have probably called the X-men to come a make sure her plan worked.

Something crushed into his side.

"Hey, bub, wake up."

Are there prizes for being wrong?

"Is he, like, dead?" Someone else said.

"I doubt it." Another voice commented.

Remy groaned.

"Told ya' so."

"Shut up, Bobby."

"Either I'm dead, and this is hell," Remy interrupted, pulling himself off the ground, nursing a headache. "Or de_ fille _did something stupid."

"You better hope you're dead so that I can't kill you." Wolverine snarled, dragging the Cajun up to eyelevel by the front of his shirt.

It took a moment for Remy to get reoriented to his sudden up right position, so he had no ready comeback. Admittedly, Wolverine was disappointed. Harassing the Cajun was the only thing he had been looking forward too since Rogue had called.

"Stop it you two." Storm snapped, distastefully going through some of the clothes Remy had supplied Rogue with.

"You're the one going through frilly clothes when we're here to figure out what the hell Rogue is up too." Wolverine snarled.

_Hmm… _Remy thought… _clothes… Something about clothes I'm supposed to remember… _

"Oh, shit." Remy spluttered when he finally realized what it was. Cursing in English was just so much more blunt.

All eyes were on him as he pushed himself away from Wolverine and scrambled into Rogue's room, haphazardly strewing articles of clothing as he went through all of them. They were all there.

"Oh. Shit." Remy looked around wildly before sprinting to his room. The X-men followed him, confused as they watched him tear apart all of his clothing.

"Oh!….Shit!…" He was down by one pair of sunglasses, a pair of gloves, and a long sleeved shirt. He knew what the girl was planning.

"She is de stupidest river rat to ever think she could come up with a plan based on nothing but Gambit's memories and a black shirt!" He yelled.

The X-men glanced at each other, highly perplexed by his expletive and odd behavior.

"Uh- Gumbo?" Wolverine hazarded speech, actually concerned that Gambit might be loosing his mind.

"We have to go!" Remy sprang up and was suddenly running full tilt out the door. "She about to do something _stupid!_"

-

Rogue stepped out of the phone booth, still playing with the sleeve of the shirt.

_I don' suppose I can still talk you out of this? _Remy asked.

_Not a chance. _

Rogue followed the paths in his memories to a ware house that looked gruff and run down from the out side, but on the inside was sleek metals and cold tiles.

She took a deep breath, staring down the building.

_Your plan is stupid. _Remy reminded her, not for the first time.

"Thank you for the vote of support, Remy." Rogue snarled under her breath. "Might I remind you that I'm doing this to save your life."

Remy seemed to have no more comment on this.

"Alright," Rogue took a deep breath, trying not to think about the man that was in that building. "Time to go."

She skirted around the side of the building trying to hunt down one of the sensors for the building that had been in Remy's memory. Stealthily she crept up to it, and, taking one deep breath of preparation, stomped down hard.

-

_Hook- It shall all make sense in the next chapter! (which will hopefully be a whole lot better than this one, which was crap) _


	17. Chapter 17

_You know what sucks? School sucks. I miss the summer days where I could sit around snuggling my tiger (His name is Bob… unfortunately he is not a real tiger) and writing. Now that this 'school' nonsense has started up again, my updates are probably going to be way slower : ( Damn school! Damn school to hell! _

_-_

"Alright," Rogue took a deep breath, trying not to think about the man that was in that building. "Time to go."

She skirted around the side of the building attempting to hunt down one of the sensors for the building that had been in Remy's memory. Stealthily she crept up to it, and, taking one deep breath of preparation, stomped down hard.

There was a flash of light from a shadowed corner as the weapon that was trained on the spot of the sensor. She clutched her neck as a hypodermic dart struck her there.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid… _Remy chanted on the inside of her head.

Rogue couldn't come up with a coherent thought that was witty enough to respond to that through the daze that the tranquilizer was causing as it coursed through her veins. She collapsed to the ground, convulsing slightly with pain.

The voices in her head that were screaming at her slowly died away, the factor in the tranquilizer that nullified mutant powers took effect.

"Well, well, well…" A cold voice Rogue recognized from not only Remy's memories, but everyone she had touched who had encountered the man. That voice was something that stuck out in a memory. The voice… and the eyes. She looked up into the blurry shadows as two glowing red orbs pronounced themselves against the background. "If it isn't my little generator. The Pawn didn't fail after all…" He mused.

"What do you want us to do with her?" Someone else said from behind him, Rogue couldn't tell who because her world was fading fast.

"For the time being keep her in one of the holding cells." The chilled voice instructed. "When she regains awareness I'll continue with the plan."

Rogue gasped involuntarily and the tall man with the glowing red eyes and cold voice turned to her, amused by her reaction.

"Did you hear that, little girl?" He leaned closer to her. "I am going to use you. I am going to make you wish you'd never been conceived. I am going to turn you into The End." He paused, evil smirk playing around on his lips. "And you won't be able to stop me."

_We'll see about that, Sinister. _She promised with her last thought before darkness. _We'll see. _

_-_

Wolverine caught Rogue's scent in the air, so he knew that they were running in the right direction, but he didn't know how Gambit knew. He had taken every corner that Rogue had, trekked down every same back alley and hopped every fence the same way that she had.

How? Why?

Nevermind, there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

The other X-men tailed Logan and Gambit at a fraction of the pace, confused on who they were supposed to be following.

Logan followed Gambit down another alley, slowing down slightly to match his pace. They both stopped simultaneously.

Wolverine sniffed the air and listened carefully while Remy reached out with his empathy, both of them looking for something familiar.

"Rogue." They both said simultaneously as they caught her scent and the familiar fear that came with her nightmares.

"She was bleeding." Logan sniffed the air again.

"She's unconscious right now." Remy supplied, pressing his eyes shut with concentration.

The other X-men let their eyes flick from one man to the other. How did they know?

"What are we going to do?" Scott asked.

"We're going to tear that place down." Gambit and Wolverine said in unison again.

Kitty giggled a little nervously. This was the first time Gambit and Wolverine had agreed on anything.

"Shades," Logan turned to Cyclops. "Can I trust you not to flip your shit if I ask you to take the building down?"

Scott didn't know whether laughing would have been appropriate at the particular moment, he just nodded his head keeping his face composed.

"Can you pinpoint her position?" He turned to Gambit.

"Up to a point," The Cajun bobbed his head, his demon eyes set in stone.

"Good enough." Logan growled, the familiar _snikt _echoed slightly as his claws extended out of his fists. "Let's go."

-

Deadpool didn't know where he was… quite honestly, he didn't care exactly. Someone had dug him out of his dusty would-be grave and now his legs were moving him down a corridor next to the 'Professor' (the one-handed sonovabitch who ran the experiments in Weapon X) He'd never been in this building before.

"-And then we can use her to kill Wade." The Professor said to the tall scary man they were walking with.

Whoa, whoa , whoa! What the hell?

Deadpool thought that this would be a pretty damn good time to start paying attention.

"I already told you," The tall man said, red eyes glinting slightly in the dim lights. "I don't have the girl."

"And I already told you." The Professor said. "I don't believe you."

The girl?

… _Hot chick?…_

Why was he here? Was it just so that The Professor could try and barter his life for hot chick or was the old man expecting a fight?

The two men continued their conversation and Deadpool zoned out again, thoughts wandering back to Sammy. Maybe he left her in his other suit?

Despite his mind winding down odd roads, Deadpool was aware of the sound of stealthy feet before either of the other men in his presence were. Oh well, too bad he couldn't tell them.

All three of them became acutely aware of those 'stealthy feet' when the owner came falling to the ground at the end of the hall.

-

Rogue woke up with a terrible headache and a generally cross demeanor. Her face was pressed down on the cold ground and her hands were shackled behind her back.

Well, time to put an end to that shit.

She groaned as she pulled herself into an upright position, her eyes flicked around the room, effectively absorbing all the facts she needed. She was alone in one of the holding cells in the back of the complex that effectively invalidated mutant powers.

Mutant powers, yes. Memories, no.

She whistled what Remy liked to call his 'Thieving Tune' as she slipped her fingers inside the cuff of his shirt and dislodged a lock pick set that had been strategically placed by the Prince of Thieves himself.

The shackles fell to the ground and Rogue felt pretty pleased with herself.

She set about the lock on the door, using Remy's memories to successfully evade that as well.

_Two security cameras trained on each door at all times. _She recalled.

Moving swiftly through the room, she used her elbow to dislodge one of the steel panels on the wall, revealing the chaos of wires and metal underneath.

"Dey don't call me de greatest t'ief in de world fo' nothin'" Rogue mocked as she tore at the wires, selecting the ones that Remy knew would disable the mutation inhibitor.

It felt like a hammer being slammed into her head when it was finally disabled, all the voices roaring back to life at once.

_Rogue, that was unwise-_

_Jesus, Rogue! You trying to kill all of us-_

_Roguey, stop usin' Remy's memories to get you in trouble, it makes him feel bad-_

_Dammit, Anna! Stop being stupid-_

_Rogue, think about this-_

"Shut up!" She screamed, pressing her fingers against her temples and falling to her knees. To her surprise, they complied. In general, they all had her best interest at heart.

_Alright,_ Rogue took a deep breath. _Magneto? I could use some help here. _

_I could dismantle this entire building, bolt by bolt, and you wish me to move security cameras? _Magneto asked incredulously.

_Yes. _Rogue said simply. _I don't want anyone hurt._

_Very well. _He conceded.

Rogue felt the familiar rush of power that came with powers that were not her own. She _felt _the cameras move.

_Thank you, Eric. _She thought, taking the final step out of the room. _Pietro? Get me out of here. _

_Fine. _Pietro was jittery from not being useful in so long.

_Wait. _Logan stopped her movement before it happened. _Do you hear that?_

"And then we could use her to kill Wade." A muffled voice seeped from one of the halls parallel to the one the holding cells were located on.

_Who is that? _Rogue shook her head, she didn't want to find out. She had the sneaking suspicion he was talking about her. _Alright, no speed. _She decided. _I'm gonna need some stealth. _

_I got it. _Both Remy and Logan said at once.

_Logan… no offense, but you aren't really the best at this 'stealth' thing. You're too… growly… _Rogue thought, choosing Remy's powers of enhanced agility from the plethora available.

Very quickly, her stealthy feet took her down the halls. She caught herself humming the 'Thieving Tune' on the inside of her head.

She laughed to herself.

Notes on being stealthy:

1. When in a situation that requires 'stealth', it is probably unwise to laugh out loud for a number of reasons including, but not limited too, detection, distraction, setting off sensors you were unaware of, or, the ever popular 'being distracted and tripping' one.

Rogue hit the floor hard, winded for a moment not only because of the spill, but because of the company she found herself in.

Sinister she recognized immediately, his buddies, however, took a little more effort. Logan identified the skeletal balding one as 'The Professor' and pretty much everyone in her head knew Deadpool.

Sinister started to growl out orders, but was interrupted by a cold, dark chuckle.

"Wade." The Professor said calmly, Deadpool came to a sudden, unnatural, attention. "There's a certain little girl that I'd like you to apprehend for me. Would you be so kind?"

Deadpool moved forward, twin swords falling firmly into his hands.

The general consensus through out the many minds of Rogue was '_Oh shit.' _


	18. Chapter 18

_BAHAHAH! HAAAAAA! Jamie feels evil today… Here's a little note to keep you going- Do you remember that little thing I foreshadowed at the beginning of the story? Yeah, just that little, itty bitty thing that I opened the story with…_

_Tomorrow would be day number four, wouldn't it?… _

_BAHAHAHA! Ta-ta now! _

-

Deadpool's eyes were hidden by the red and black mask, but Rogue could almost feel the fact that he wasn't following his own will. Of all the minds in her mind, Logan knew best that Wade Wilson was generally a nice guy, but his moral compass just didn't always point to 'sane'.

…And he thought it was just oodles of fun killing people, but Rogue wasn't going to hold that against him. She knew a lot of people like that.

Anger. Hate. Humor. Angst. Joy. Ambivalence. All emotions that weren't hers crashed around inside as she fully opened the link she had with the minds stuck in hers.

_Steal the sword! _One of the ninjas crowed.

_I don't want to kill him! _Rogue protested.

_You can't kill him. _Logan replied bluntly.

_Oh… well, that's okay then. _Rogue kicked Deadpool where his shoulder connected to his chest as he took another step closer to her and simultaneously disarmed him of one blade.

Sliding back into a defensive position, Rogue held the blade expertly. The two men standing behind Deadpool seemed to be stunned, but Deadpool himself reacted almost immediately by drawing a gun.

_I got it! _Pietro took over and suddenly Rogue was behind Deadpool.

Rogue quickly stabbed the hand that was holding the gun and then slashed at the other (thousand) guns that were strapped to his person.

"Where are my lackeys!" Sinister roared.

As if one cue, Archangel entered.

"Oh good." Sinister calmed.

_My goodness, _Eric laughed. _Is that metal constructing his wings?_

_Do whatever you need to do! _Rogue was preoccupied with defending herself against Deadpool who only had one sword now, but still seemed to be dominating the fight.

_I'm going to need a hand. _He said literally.

_Quickly! _Rogue cast out her hand in Archangel's direction after tacking Deadpool to the wall.

Archangel surged forward in an attack, but his wings were suddenly contorted at awkward angles and bends. Rogue groaned in pain as all the powers she was using started taxing her mind.

_Now I remember why I ignore you guys most of the time. _She growled internally, holding her head with the hand that wasn't trashing her former friend's wings. Her knees struck the ground as all of the voices in her head started to overwhelm her.

-

Remy vaulted himself up to the roof and took off at a sprint.

He had already informed the X-men of the security they would have to avoid and thankfully they hadn't asked any questions on how he knew. Wolverine was in a frenzy and no one was going to argue with a hairy, angry, short, Canadian man. They had all taken different sides and Remy's orders had been to stay put. Well, Remy LeBeau wasn't an X-man and thus did not take orders from them.

"_Merde!" _Remy collapsed on the rooftop momentarily as a assault of feelings that were not his own crashed down on his mind suddenly, painfully crushing out anything that he was trying to concentrate on. Rogue's emotions were going crazy. He'd only felt her like this once, and that was the first time they had met and she had let her powers use her.

Something had gone wrong.

He let a delightfully colored sentence escape his lips as he dragged himself into an upright position.

Like hell he was going to let that girl die because she had tried to save his ass.

"I might have to kill de _belle _myself after this is over._" _He muttered a complete lie and followed the chain of emotions to the owner. Through a conveniently placed sky light he watched her stab Deadpool's (or what could be called Deadpool's) shoulder into a wall before turning to a brainwashed Warren Worthington III and crumpling his wings with magnetism like they were aluminum cans.

"Time t' go." He decided seeing Rogue put her hand up to her head and collapse to her knees.

He charged the window and dropped down to the ground.

"Ah," A voice that sent shivers down his spine broke through the chaos just to taunt him. "My pawn is here. I need you to recapture the girl for me." Remy turned deftly to Nathaniel Essex who was smirking at him, his red eyes that sometimes reminded Remy of himself gleamed with menacing power.

"Yeah. Sure." Remy said sarcastically before reaching out and charging Sinister's suit.

The tall, scary as all hell, bald man that had been standing next to him laughed as Sinister gallantly disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

_Where de hell di' he go? _Remy looked around frantically.

A scream tore him out of his thoughts. Rogue had completely collapsed to the ground. She was cradling her head in her hands, weeping into black shirt that she had stolen from him.

"_Cherie!" _He knelt down next to her and forced her to look into his eyes with his gloved hands over hers.

"Remy?" Her eyes vaguely registered his existence.

"Oh, Wade." A sing-song voice called. "I believe your job was to get me the girl."

Remy was violently kicked to the side as Deadpool yanked the katana out of his shoulder. The back of his head connected sharply with the metal walls.

-

Deadpool could not believe his luck. Hot girl was slung over his shoulder, he was pretty sure he just got to kick Gambit in the face and he could hear the other X-men moving about the building frantically. Also, bonus points to Gambit- Sinister was MIA.

Sure, his shoulder hurt a little bit from where he had gotten stabbed into a wall, and he was a little distraught that some of his guns had to die to get him here, but hey, you win some you lose some. (Unless you name is frikkin Wolverine, who seems to win goddamn everything)

But seriously, where did this get bad?

_Wait… Why is the floor glowing pink? _

-

"Shouldn't have trusted Gumbo." Wolverine muttered under his breath as he charged forward, Shadowcat close at his heels.

"Where did he go?" She asked, panting from the effort of keeping up with Wolverine, even with phasing.

Wolverine sniffed the air again, catching the smell of a certain Cajun on the sir. "This way." He growled, taking off again and barely waiting for Kitty to follow.

They came across a locked door. The crying of a familiar voice pierced the air.

"Get me in there!" He roared, turning on Kitty.

To terrified to offer any logic for the situation, Kitty complied.

"Why is the floor glowing pink?" She asked on the other side.

-

Pain blurred his vision and what he was sure was blood leaked down the back of his neck.

In his last moments of consciousness he saw Deadpool lift the incoherent figure that was Rogue over his shoulder and start to walk away.

Remy reached out weakly and put his hand flat on the floor. The sterile white tiles started to glow a deep magenta. The bright illumination spread across the floor to Deadpool, the man in the white coat, and even under his own body. Rogue would be fine from her place on top of Deadpool's shoulder.

"What's going on?" The man in the lab coat looked at the ground in a panic.

"This." Remy said bluntly before falling unconscious.

_BOOM. _


	19. Chapter 19

Rogue started to groan, but for some reason her throat was to sore to continue the action as if she had been screaming or crying. She couldn't remember which. Why was it dark?

Oh… her eyes were closed. She didn't feel like remedying that quite yet.

Why was it so quite? There were no voices invading her thoughts…

Suddenly, everything came back to her.

_-_

_She was screaming and crying, trying to get the voices to silence themselves long enough that she could get to Remy, to stop him from blowing himself up. But she couldn't struggle hard enough, she couldn't fight back with enough force. _

"_What's going on?" The Professor looked around frantically, an odd gesture for the usually calm and controlled man who prided himself in being able to disconcert people and victims with his cold smile. _

"_This." Remy spat, some of the blood from the back of his head pooled on the ground. His head hit the glowing floor, unconscious. _

_BOOM. _

"_NO!" Rogue screamed, becoming intangible on reflex, accidentally taking Deadpool with her so that he remained undamaged as well. The voices roared in her head, each wanting their own way. _

_Rogue compromised. _

_The debris froze mid flight, literally freezing over, as a feral growl escaped her lips._

_Remy was gone. _

_The voices screamed. Each wanting their own justice. Each wanting revenge. _

_Her tears dried. _

Destroy everything. _She told the voices in her head. _Make them pay.

_Pietro stepped up first. _

_The rest of the world moved in slow motion as she ducked under Deadpool's arm and used the sword she had commandeered earlier to stab him through the chest into the ground, effectively neutralizing the man. _

_Juggernaut decided to be helpful. _

_Her fist balled up, knuckles turning white under the pair of gloves she was wearing. She struck out and the wall next to her came crashing down, exposing the metal skeleton of the building. _

_Eric smiled, happy, as usual, to help her. _

_The metal sprang to life. Her mirthless smile felt horribly delicious and unfamiliar on her lips as every support beam in the building collapsed, snapped like twigs._

_The other mutants in the building finally showed up. Six of them strode forward, looking like they were prepared for an army, laughing when they saw only her. _

_They may have come prepared for an army. But nothing in the world could have prepared them for A Rogue. _

_Logan growled in her ear, eager. _

_Six bone claws snapped out of her fist. She wasted no time in using them, spilling blood for the first time in her life. One of the martial artists came forth, making her attacks more efficient than Wolverine's animal could ever make them. _

_Seconds later, they were dead, dying or unconscious. _

_It was quiet. The last of the pebbles of destruction clattered to the floor, leaving a slight trail of dust and the memory of things that were. It was quiet. _

_Her heartbeat slowly calmed. _

_The voices faded into oblivion, leaving her alone with it. All of them left her alone, except one._

Am I dead? _He asked. _

Yes. _She responded, choking on her new tears. _

Sucks to be Remy, no? _He tried to make her smile. He hated it when she cried. _

_She didn't have anything to say to that. She wanted him back. _

Was it worth it? _He asked her, surveying the damage she had done along with her, eyes landing on the bodies. _

Killing? _She spat. _I wish I could have done more.

Don' talk like that. _He admonished and she painfully realized that she was never going to actually hear that voice again. _I don't want you to be like me. …You're so much better than me…

_In the middle of everything, the destruction and death, she crumpled to her knees, sobbing. _

Please, _cherie, _please, _He cooed to her. _Don' cry.

_She didn't miss the movement out of the corner of her eye, if she had wanted too, she could have reacted. Stopped it. She didn't. _

_If she had ever had any doubt, it was completely blown to bits now that she was kneeling in the aftermath of her own fury. She was a weapon._

_She wasn't going to let herself be controlled and used._

_For right now, she'd play their game, only long enough to escape it permanently._

_Deadpool fired off a shot from a weapon he had been concealing (…somewhere…) and Rogue was struck by another dart. _

_-_

Rogue opened her eyes for the first time, utterly positive that she was going to make good on her promise to play until she could get out. Forever.

Deadpool was standing guard outside of the cage Rogue had been placed in, standing as still as a statue. There were tears in his suit from where Rogue had stabbed him in the shoulder and chest, but other than that there was no sign of the trauma of the day earlier. The skin under the exposed parts of the suit was bumpy with scars, but other than that, completely unharmed.

"Ah, good." A voice snarled and Rogue jumped slightly when she saw The Professor walk in, very much worse for his wear. Unlike Deadpool, he looked exactly like he had just been in an explosion. Scabs and quickly forming bruises littered his frame.

Rogue hated him for living through that where Remy hadn't.

In fact, Rogue just hated him.

"I'm glad to see you're awake." He continued, his cold smile chilled her bones. "We can't have you asleep when we start experimenting."

Rogue chose not to respond with words, but let the hateful fire in her eyes do the talking.

The man smirked at her, enjoying her hate, before turning to Deadpool.

"Kill _anyone _who comes within three feet of that cage." He instructed firmly before walking away resolutely, his white coat trailing behind him slightly. Deadpool didn't move.

_My, my… _Rogue chuckled to herself. _That was a very direct order, now wasn't it? _

-

_Am I dead? _He asked himself.

_No. _Came the quick answer. If he were dead there would have been a lot more pain… probably fire too…

He tried to catalogue all of the pain he was feeling, but gave up after noticing the blaring pain concentrated on the back of his head.

_What's my name? _He tried to come up with answers. He could feel the answers bubbling right under the surface of his unconsciousness, blocked by the picture of a young woman with light brown and white hair, fiery green eyes, and the most beautiful face he could have imagined. He knew he could have found his answers if he broke that mental picture, shattered it in a favor of pain and information… He was quite content to enjoy the view for a while longer.

Something in the back of his pained mind nagged at him, told him he should get up, make things right.

He pushed it away roughly and decided however he ended up this way, he deserved a good rest for it.

-

_Good lord, this is going to get _really _complicated _really _fast _really _soon. *scoffs* and you thought it was complicated before! Darlings, that was a warm up to what's going to happen next! _


	20. Chapter 20

_Yeah… redid this. …Sorry… I only really made big changes to the first and third parts, Deadpool remains cool, and this version contains 100% less road-trip humor. (Your contempt was worth the giggles!) ((…not actually, or I wouldn't have changed it…)) (((Please forgive me?)))_

He opened his eyes, information on where he was and who he was were delayed when he was sidetracked by the company he found himself in. What an odd group. There was a short brunette that was sobbing into the chest of a taller, blond boy. A tall blue demon-like creature. A white-haired, mocha skinned, blue-eyed beauty. A towering man with a red visor where eyes should have been. And a short, hairy, clawed, feral man that reeked of Canadian-ism. They were all wearing skin tight yellow, blue, or red suits.

For some reason all of this did not feel the slightest bit strange to him.

Especially the part where they were all glaring at him.

"My keen deducting skills tell me that I have done something wrong." _Should have stayed unconscious. _He thought to himself. Against his will, he had been torn away from the mental picture and back into reality.

"One could say that, Gambit." The Canadian growled.

Reality dawned on Remy.

"How de hell am I still alive?!" He cried, sitting up abruptly, running his hands over his torso in an attempt to confirm that he was, in fact, alive. The back of his head throbbed painfully, and the world went spinning into a color wheel of blurs.

Shadowcat started to sob harder, tucking herself away into Ice boy's chest.

"Please," Storm said, planting a firm hand on Remy's shoulder and pushing him back down into a horizontal position. "Do not move."

Remy took a moment to survey his surroundings. There was a lot of rubble and the smell of dusty destruction. The metal structure of the once-was building looked as if it had been torn out. He felt the emotions of the people surrounding him, and immediately wished he couldn't.

"What happened?" He grunted, shifting uncomfortably on the rocky ground, wishing that someone would either start a fight, or let him leave.

"It was my fault." Kit cat's breathing was choppy in between the gasps she used to fuel her tears. "I should have grabbed her." Icy put his arms around her in a comforting gesture. "But, I grabbed you instead. You were closer… I should have grabbed her."

Remy didn't blame the girl for regretting saving his life… he would have chosen Rogue over him, too.

"Where is she?" Remy growled.

"Gone." Kitty sobbed.

Remy felt dazed.

"Gumbo! Watch it!" Wolverine barked.

The ground directly surrounding Remy glowed where his hands were touching it. He reabsorbed the charge right in the nick of time, not wanting to blow them all to kingdom come… _yet… _

"What do you mean _gone_?" The snarls rising up in his throat rivaled any growl the Wolverine could have produced. "She was safe." He barked, anger flaring. They were wrong. They had to be wrong.

"What do you mean 'safe'?" Logan half-roared half-mocked in a broken fit, wanting to channel the hurt of losing one of his closest friends and allies into a more familiar emotion. Rage. "You blew up the floor! If Kitty hadn't been there you would have died too. After we got you out the entire building collapsed!"

"I only charged the floor enough to destroy everything below the waist." Remy explained rapidly, pushing himself into a standing position to spite them, brushing off the spinning of his head. "She was on Deadpool's shoulder. He would have absorbed any of the blast and she should have been fine. I don't mess up like that."

Kitty's eyes brightened at slightly at his logic. She stepped out of Bobby's grasp tentatively and walked forward to inspect Remy's face "You would blow yourself up for her?" She asked, a girly smile played on her lips between the streaks of tears.

Remy wouldn't have phrased it quite like that.

"That is so adorable!" She squealed, grabbing his arm and charging forward into the hazard zone, leaving the X-men very confused and left behind.

"Where are we goin' _petit?" _Gambit asked frantically, heart beat throbbing an unsteady beat in his ears as Kitty phased the both of them through the ex-building.

"To find her!" Kitty laughed over her shoulder, the stains of her tears quickly fading. "You said she didn't die, she isn't dead."

_Is the girl bipolar? _Remy thought to distract him from another, more brutal, thought. What if he had messed up like that?

"Oh my God…" Kitty breathed as they reached the spot she had last seen Rogue.

"I t'ink it be safe to assume _ma cherie _is still alive." Gambit looked over the damage. Dead bodies, obviously done in by a set of triplet claws, distorted metal cast aside, melting ice shards that covered would-be shrapnel.

Rogue.

"Where is she now?" Kitty wondered out loud, Remy could hear almost as much as he could feel the tremor in her voice.

He cast his gaze to the spot that he had last seen Rogue, slung over Deadpool's shoulder as he walked away from him. For a moment, Remy relived that fading hope, the disparity that had forced his hand to be a suicide savior.

Slowly, Remy let his feet guide him to the spot, absolutely terrified of what he was going to find.

There was a solid, in and out, hole in the ground obviously caused by a sword or something of that nature. An incredibly small puddle of blood surrounded it, along with a small scrap of red fabric.

"Deadpool!" Kitty gasped. She knew her fabrics, and one as tacky as that could only be the crazy mercenary's.

"Weapon X." Remy growled. His eyes flashed a dangerous shade of red.

-

Deadpool was singing songs on the inside of his head, trying to pass the time until something interesting happened.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched hot chick inspect the cage that she was being kept in. Of course, the cage neutralized mutant powers (A must for any person willing to capture them. Deadpool was pretty sure it was in a rule book somewhere.) and it was locked up tight, so he didn't have to worry about her escaping and getting stabbed again.

Deadpool didn't like getting stabbed. Sure, he could heal up almost instantly, but the sensation of being stabbed was just never fun. Like, being shot. Sometime being shot was fun, then everyone's all like 'ew! You were just shot! Why are you walking? Ahhh! ZOMBIE!' and you could just spend the rest of your day moaning nonsensical blather and scaring the crap out of people, but being stabbed was just to far.

He thought over the instructions The Professor had given him.

'_Kill anyone who gets within three feet of that cage.' _

Blah blah blah.

What if hot chick escaped (impossible. Ridiculously impossible. Absolutely, ridiculously, impossibly impossible.) and happened to be within three feet of the cage? Did baldy even think of this stuff? Idiot.

Deadpool turned his attention back to 'guarding' hot chick.

_WHOA!_

Out of the corner of his eye he watched her take off the black button down shirt she was wearing and start tearing at one of the seams on the inside. A small blue packet was exposed when she finally was done creating a hole in the inner lining.

"Doesn't anyone bother to pat people down anymore?" She muttered to herself as she replaced the shirt.

What the hell was she doing?

"Or change them into uniforms?" She continued to babble as she kneaded the little bag. "Honestly, this is just ridiculous. I thought that was in the rule book."

Reaching into a concealed pocket, she pulled out a small army knife that had obviously been modified for a thief's work.

"Damn…" She mused as she cut open the packet with a makeshift pair of scissors. Deadpool immediately recognized the acrid smell of an acidic substance, having three such bags taped to his own person at all times.

"This shirt mustuv been a bitch to wash." She continued to smear the blue substance over the bars. "How many more things can he pack in this thing?"

She paused, apparently just realizing what she had just said.

"How many more things _could _he have packed in…" She corrected bitterly.

Deadpool was starting to think she might be crazy...

…er than him…

Which was an accomplishment.

_She's lucky she's good looking, because I wouldn't tolerate this nonsense if she wasn't. _

Within the boundaries of the cage she set her stance and gave the wall cover with blue stuff a swift kick.

It clattered to the ground.

Of course she escaped. Goddamnit, if he got stabbed again…

Deadpool's muscles reacted before his mind could when she stepped out.

-

The majority of the X-men were too bust grieving to notice the Ragin' Cajun had gotten a good majority of his "Ragin'" back when he sprinted past them and started hacking and prying his way into the Blackbird. In fact, they barely noticed him at all.

It wasn't until Kitty ran up, breathless and beaming that they understood something had happened.

"Deadpool-… Wea-… X-… Rogue-…" Kitty squeezed out between gasped breaths.

"What?" Scott, Logan, Kurt, Ororo and Bobby said in unison.

"Jet!" Kitty pointed at Gambit. "Get on!"

"Why?" They were still skeptical.

"Let's put it this way." Gambit growled from where he stood inside the Blackbird, speaking for the first time since his speedy return. Everything from the set of his jaw to the umble in his voice reeked of determination and recklessness. He was going to get what he wanted, and nothing was going to get in his way. "If y' don' get on in de next four seconds, y'r ass get's left here an' I'll go get Rogue by me onesies."

Four seconds passed where everyone was just stunned.

Kitty had to phase them all through the door after Gambit closed it.

"You mind explaining what's going on, bub?" Wolverine was suspicious, he didn't want to invest in something that could potentially just hurt himself and his team worse than they already were.

"No." Remy said bluntly, taking the controls.

"Uh… Please?" Scott tried.

"De only t'ing y' need t' know tight now, is dat Rogue is in trouble and in de process o' savin' 'er, y' can take down Weapon X." He turned around momentarily to glare at each of them individually with his burning eyes, making it very clear that right now, he was in charge. "So don' try an second guess me _X-men_, I'm in dis fo' Rogue."

He turned back around just in time to miss Kitty being attacked by giggles.

-

_*Jamie cowers* Forgiveness? _


	21. Chapter 21

_Thanks for putting up with me you guys…. :D_

_WAH! I just heard the Deadpool is gonna be in the second season of Wolverine and the X-men! *MIND EXPLOSION* WAAAAAAAAAAH! _

_-_

Rogue knew fear. It was her constant companion. When there was no family, there was fear. When there was no Logan, no X-men, there was fear. When there was no love, there was fear.

But not now. Right now, the very moment she was about to die, there was no fear. It was the right thing. Sometimes a little self-sacrifice made everything okay. A little life lesson she took from Remy LeBeau.

The world moved in slow motion, as if trying to extend her last few moments.

Her foot fell on the other side of the cage.

The voices surged in her ears, screaming at her to run, fight, stop. To live.

Deadpool moved forward. His dead eyes reflected his inability to control his own movements.

There was a pain in her chest.

Blood in her mouth.

_I can't believe you. _Remy said sullenly.

_She did the right thing. _Magneto took her side. The other voices mumbled agreement.

_Do you hear that? _Logan spoke up.

Rogue cut off her gasping momentarily to call upon Logan's senses. There were several curios sounds that she was immediately aware of. The sudden cut of a jet engine. Hundreds of stomping feet. The rumble of thunder. A loud _crack._ A familiar _snikt. _And something else…

_Slap. Scrape. Scrape. Slap. Slap. Scrape. _

What was that?

_Scrape. Slap. Slap. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape._

It sounded like…

_Scrape. Slap. Scrape. Slap. Boom._

_Playing cards. _

Rogue choked on blood and tears, crumpling down to her knees.

_He's alive… _The thought sang through her.

_And you're dead. _Remy added bitterly.

Deadpool's muscles had remained stiff, firmly keeping the sword embedded in her chest to the point where it was the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. It was situated in the wrong side of her chest to cause immediate results, the intent was a more painful one. She would either bleed to death, or drown.

_He's alive. _She thought again, laughing and coughing. _The bastard's alive. _She laughed even harder, hacking up blood.

_I don't see how this is funny. _Remy snipped.

The sound of more explosions polluted the air.

_I don't know why I'm laughing, _Rogue admitted, smile playing on her face. _I'm just happy, I s'pose. _

The explosions got closer and Rogue's vision started to dim. She wondered if she was going to be able to see him one last time before it went out completely.

Dammit. She wanted to see him.

Gathering up her strength, she called upon Kitty's psyche and phased through the blade in her chest and Deadpool.

Notes on Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde's powers-

Kitty can phase through any solid object as long as she holds her breath for the duration of the trip through it and holds her concentration. Any technological object she phases through will be ruined. Some technologies have been adapted so that they would not be _immediately _destroyed by such an occurrence, but still would not be able to survive more than two or three phasings.

Once- when Kitty ran through Deadpool's chest in a attempt to escape security.

Twice- when Rogue phased through the shrapnel of the explosion.

Three Times- when Rogue phased through him so that she could stand up.

Deadpool muscles contracted violently, as if something had just sent a jolt through his entire body.

"AH!" He screamed, dropping the sword.

"AH!" Rogue screamed, stopping the phase and falling to the bloody floor.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Deadpool finished his scream with an insane laugh. "I can move! I. CAN. KILL!" He wiggled his fingers as if they were the most novel thing in the world. But, hey, Rogue had never lost complete control of her body before, maybe they were. "You!" Deadpool suddenly pointed to her and Rogue cough up some more blood in shock.

The sound of explosions got closer. Outside the door maybe.

"You saved me! Like, in that one story- uh- Goddammit, what was it?" He tapped his finger against his chin. "Sleeping Beauty! That was it!" He exclaimed.

"Well, I don't really think-." Rogue started, her speech was hindered slightly by the gaping hole in her lung.

"Nonsense!" Deadpool waved off whatever she was about to say. "This means you get a kiss!"

"AH!" Her high pitched screech pierced the air. She _did not _want Deadpool inside her head.

Rogue tried to scuttle away, again, only to be hindered by the gaping hole in her lung. Why couldn't she just _die? _

Deadpool's hands landed on her shoulders, hauling her upright into a dipped kiss at the same moment the door exploded inward.

-

Despite the deck of cards in his hands, it was very obvious to everyone that Gambit was not playing games.

They hadn't asked how he knew where the Weapon X base was. They didn't ask a lot of stuff they probably should have. And Remy wasn't about to volunteer the information until Rogue was safe.

Because, after that, Wolverine could stab him as many times as he wanted.

Right now, he was too busy to die.

Remy's metal boots clicked against the floor as he walked out of the flames. He whistled his 'Thieving Tune' because it helped him concentrate on not overcharging the cards and killing everyone.

Several more explosions occurred behind him and he pulled out another deck of cards.

He stepped over a few bodies and continues his trek forward, not to be stopped by the eclectic group of mutants trying to prevent him from reaching his destination.

It was also very obvious to everyone that Remy LeBeau was very angry at the moment.

"Well, hell," Bobby said, backing up from one of the glowing cards that had landed close to him. "I'm not gonna fight him."

"You know…" Kitty drawled, glancing at Logan. "He's not actually a bad guy. Maybe if we invited him to be an X-."

"I don't want to hear it Pryde." He growled, sniffing the air and following in the clear path Gambit had already made. He looked over his shoulder with a grunt, and Storm understood this to be 'Would you mind terribly to start a small rain to put out the flames?'

"AH!" A scream was heard from somewhere in the now nearly destroyed building.

"AH!" Another scream

"AHAHAHAHAHA! I can move! I. CAN. KILL!"

There was a general 'Oh, shit' moment among the X-men, which seemed to be happening more and more as of late.

The explosions quickly escalated and became larger and more violent as Remy followed his ears to the origin of the scream.

"AH!" Another scream, this one higher in pitch and filled with more panic.

Logan reached the door first and slashed at it with all of his strength and claws, but got no where. It was made of adamantium.

"Move." Remy barked. He charged the door and though the door itself didn't explode, the wall surrounding it gave in immediately. "…What the hell?" He said when he saw what was going on on the other side of the door.

Rogue was pin wheeling her arms, trying to escape the apparent kiss that Deadpool had somehow pulled her into. His mask had been lifted slightly to allow lip contact.

Mumbled screams were escaping Rogue's sealed lips that sounded something like "GET. HIM. OFF."

Remy and Logan were happy to oblige. (violently)

Rogue fell back to the ground, chest wound closing up quickly and a insatiable craving for chimichangas. Deadpool's psyche blathered complete and utter nonsense on the inside of her head about a little girl at a computer writing this down, laughing her ass off.*

"_Cherie?" _She felt warm hands on her shoulders. "Are y' alright?"

Rogue opened her eyes and found her favorite pair of demon eyes staring back. She smiled.

Before words could escape her lips the sound of echoing footsteps running down the hallway that had just been destroyed took up the majority of her attention.

Everyone turned towards the doorway.

-

_*Which I was. _

_Allrighty chickies, this is a pretty important inquiry. Either we can have one more chapter that pretty much sums everything up, OR a minimum of five more chapters that has a more epic solution, but will mean that you have to suffer my crazy for 5. More. Chapters. (does anyone really want that?) _

_I leaving this one up to you guys… _

1 simple solution

Or.

5 Epically action-packed, crazy-filled, brain-washing, MRD-killing, Romy-filled, explosions of crazy.

The choice is yours. (Drop me a review for your vote please! (Because, honestly, _I _wouldn't want to put up with my crazy as all sin stories any more than necessary))

*Everyone gets a high-five*


	22. Chapter 22

_I think we should all just agree not to talk about road trip humor anymore… Jamie promises not to write past three in the morning again! And the last chapter was intentionally awkward because I had to make room for either ending. _

_On that note- _

_1 Chapter- 0_

"5 Epically action-packed, crazy-filled, brain-washing, MRD-killing, Romy-filled, explosions of crazy." _- 20_

_Decision made. Buckle you seatbelts dearies, 'cause it's about to get AWESOME. _

_-_

Logan's growl echoed eerily off of the walls as he fell into an animal crouch. There were too many people on the other side of the door for him to take by himself, it was like there was an army outside. Definitely to many for them to be Weapon X.

He sniffed the air.

The metallic smell of artillery and distinctly abrasive scent of gunpowder were the first things that made themselves apparent.

The heartbeats of the seven at his back remained steady. Brave. Prepared.

Unconsciously, he placed himself in front of Rogue and Gambit. Not that he didn't trust Gumbo to protect her, as it was becoming more and more obvious that she was the only thing he was really giving a damn about right now, but he knew that Rogue wasn't in any condition to be able to protect herself should he fall.

Which was pretty likely. There were a lot of people on the other side of that door.

The hole in the wall that used to be a door filled with bodies and the X-men sprang into attack positions. Remy tightened his grip on Rogue but didn't budge an inch.

"Don't!" A voice boomed. The voice belonged to none other than Bolivar Trask, looking very out of place among the field of muscled agents. "If you damage the girl, then we have nothing to work with." He admonished the troops before turning towards the X-men. "I am terribly sorry, but we haven't much time to waste, so- The girl comes with us willingly, or we'll take her."

Rogue was still coughing up blood clots in Remy's arms, so the only response she could make to this was a raised finger.

Logan was pretty damn proud of her.

"Poetic." Trask commented. "Just as well." He waved his hand and the men at his back were poised to attack. "Take out the X-men first. Kill them if necessary."

"Wait!" Rogue looked around in a panic, the bravado of a moment ago quickly fading.

Remy's hands created a vice-like grip on her shoulders, but not for the reason everyone assumed. She was singling out her emotions among the mass that were available, flicking through the psyches in her head. The personality that took her place was a replica of one already in the room.

Her eyes were squeezed closed tightly.

"X-men." Remy called out in a voice the radiated cool control. "Stand down."

"What?" Wolverine turned to him, growling ferociously.

Remy swept his eyes over every hero in the room before locking eyes with Cyclops'. "Stand. Down." His eyes flicked to the ground for a moment.

Rogue groaned with pain, pressing the heels of her palms against her closed lids.

The MRD surrounding them waited patiently, poised for an attack, but generally unwilling. They had already seen what these X-men could do, and if one among their ranks wanted a peaceful solution, they were more than happy to wait a few more moments.

His meaning started to dawn on Scott. He eased himself to the ground and nodded for the other X-men to do the same.

"Y' okay to move _cherie?"_ He mumbled into her ear.

"Just point me at the bad guys." She smirked, eyes still sealed shut.

"Just lean inta me, _cherie." _Remy moved his hands from her shoulders to her elbows and eased her into a standing position. The MRD tensed immediately, but continued to delay an action. "I'll do the rest."

"There are just so many ways I could respond to that." She quipped suggestively, letting Remy guide her.

"_Mon dieu, _woman," Remy was momentarily stunned. "Y'r mind's almost as dirty as mine."

"Yeah, well…" Rogue chuckled, feeling more than knowing that he was turning her to face the MRD.

"Enough of this banter! Are you going to come with us willingly or not?" Trask demanded.

She felt Remy nod behind her.

"Hmmm…" She pretended to consider the question. "Define 'willingly'." She said before she opened her eyes.

Bright red beams of heated, painful, destruction laced through the air directly in front of her. Remy ducked fluidly when she turned around and whipped out his bo staff, knocking away scraps of concrete and weapons that came flying her way as the very foundation of the building started to diminish under her glare.

The deep screams of men being slammed into the wreckage nearly drown out the sound of the carnage itself.

"Close y' eyes, _cherie!_" Remy had to yell to be heard.

"A- Ah can't!" She braced her feet against the ground so that she could herself up against the force of the energy pouring out of her eyes.

"Scooter!" Remy turned to the figure of Cyclops, who was hugging the ground like it was the only thing that could save him. "I need y' glasses!"

Cyclops readily tossed his pair of civilian glasses at Gambit, having expected something like this to happen. Remy caught them deftly and placed the ruby shades of Rogue's eyes.

She clutched them to her face, breathing heavily and half collapsing into Remy's chest.

"Did it work?" She asked shakily.

Gambit scanned the bodies.

"Y' could say that."

She laughed airily and leaned her head back into his shoulder, still panting heavily.

"I can't believe that just happened!" Bobby was still crouched on the ground with his hands covering the back of his neck, eyes wider than saucers.

"Get up, you big baby." Kitty sniffed, standing on her slightly shaky legs and walking over to help up Bobby.

"That was risky, Gumbo." Wolverine growled, standing. "You could have gotten her killed."

"Logan." Rogue's voice held warning.

Logan softened for her. "Fine, I'll kill him later, then."

She laughed again.

"I don' see how this is funny." Remy snipped from above her.

"You said the same thing in my mind when Deadpool ran me through." Rogue cocked her head to the side.

"Speaking of Deadpool…" Kitty looked around. "Where did he go?"

"He hightailed it after Logan stabbed him in the -." Rogue suddenly cut off, clutching her neck.

"_Cherie?" _

"Ah swear tah Jesus, if someone shoots meh with anothah dart Ah'm gonna…" Her voice trailed away as she fell into unconsciousness in Remy's arms.

Remy's eyes blazed with a fury that was almost equal to the static fuchsia radiating off the deck of cards in his hand.

"Never send an Army to do a scientist's job." Trask shook his head sadly.

Remy cocked back his arm.

"Ah-ah-ah." Trask tutted. "We wouldn't our little poison victim to be distressed by confrontation."

As if on cue, Rogue started to convulse with pain in Remy's hands and desperation stabbed at his heart.

Logan moved forward to kill the man, Storm's fingers were filled with lightning, Scott's hand flew to the side of his visor, Kurt's eyes scanned for the best place to attack from, Bobby iced over and Kitty started to phase a pathway through the cement, aiming for his throat.

"I wouldn't if I were you." He warned them. "I'm the only one that can make it stop."

"Stop it!" Remy screamed, trying to sooth the fading girl in his hands.

"I _can_ stop it." Trask said diplomatically . "If you hand her over to me, I can make it go away."

"Or?" Remy glared at him.

"Or she dies." Trask shrugged. "There are other mutants out there to find. It would be inconvenient to say the least to loose such a perfect test subject, but a loss we are willing to take."

Everyone in the room hesitated.

They had gotten her back, but how many times was that going to work?

Rogue started coughing up blood again and the decision was made.

"I'll be back f'r her." Remy snarled, handing Rogue over to one of the few agents still standing.

"I certainly hope so." Trask smirked evilly. "I really do."

Trask and the last few agents turned to leave. "Stun 'em." He ordered one of the burlier men.

The world pinpointed into a blur of gun shots and hatred as each X-men (and a LeBeau) was shot down.

-

You know what gets really old _really _fast.

Well, a lot of things, but right now the top ones on Rogue's list were-

-Being shot with darts/ poisoned. (And just 'Being shot.')

-Being kidnapped. (In general)

-Being used. (Also, in general)

-Being pulled out of Remy's arms.

-Being unconscious.

-And waking up in a different place than where she was shot and poisoned, falling unconscious, followed by being kidnapped and dragged out of Remy's arms so that the MRD could use her.

Rogue clenched her fists and pulled at the restraints around her wrists. The room she had woken up in was a stark contrast to the last two she had. The walls were a sterile white, equally intimidating and annoying. The smell of medical supplies stung her nostrils and fueled her anger. Someone had thought to swap out her clothing for something more uniform and everything- jewelry, hair ties, braclets- that she had been wearing was gone.

"She's awake." Someone called and the room was suddenly filled with activity, attaching sensors to every exposed path of skin they could find, stabbing her with needles, drawing blood as well as injecting her with foreign substances, and checking her basic reflexes and capabilities.

On the other side of the building where Rogue was struggling, two men watched a security camera feed of the room.

"Are you sure the process is going to work?" The taller, more intimidating of the two asked.

"We have attempted it before with other mutants," The thinner, significantly less terrifying one answered. "But her unique abilities to absorb the energy it would take to completely wipe her memories and destroy her free will should yield different results."

"Is that all?"

"Yes and no." The thinner one shifted uncomfortably. "It also means that she would be able to recover from the procedure with in a matter of minutes. We have had to requisition one of the chips that Weapon X had been employing to control their subjects to remain in constant control of her."

"Is there any way to shut down the chip?"

"It would require an obscene amount of energy, not only to produce enough of a charge to shut down the chip but to get around her mutation as well. It would be almost impossible."

"I'll take it." The taller man said greedily, so close to an ultimate power he could almost taste it.

-

_What? Yes. I have a reason for my madness! (Deadpool shall be back! Don't loose faith in Wade just yet!)_


	23. Chapter 23

_Paper-creations. That may be the most fantastic compliment I have ever been paid. I am very sorry to prove it wrong because this post was, like, a week late. 'S cool. Guess who's back? Back again? It's not Jamie… She's just sneaking around the house at 1 am. _

_C: _

_-_

"Loooogaaaaannn…" And irritatingly familiar voice picked its way through Logan's unconscious mind.

_They must have used one hell of a drug to get me under. _He thought, forgetting the voice for a moment.

"Heyyyy LooooOOOOoooogannnnnn…"

_Oh god. _Logan finally recognized the voice as he opened his eyes. Deadpool's face was inches from his own.

"Hey Buddy!" Deadpool said cheerily, backing away.

The other X-men (and a LeBeau) groaned slightly as they woke form their drug induced states as well.

"And where the hell were you?" Kitty snapped when she noticed Deadpool crouched on a pile of still smoking brick.

"None of your sass, Kitty cat," Deadpool declared, standing upright and running out of the room, quickly returning, dragging something behind his back. "I brought you guys a present!" He revealed what he had been dragging behind him.

The Professor tied to a chair with duct tape.

"Ta-da!" Deadpool sang. The Professor screamed unintelligibly through the cocoon of duct tape that surrounded his mouth.

Logan felt his mouth drop open. Similar reactions were happening all around him.

"I didn't even shoot him!" He sounded proud of himself, though, not shooting him wasn't really an achievement when one stood back and counted all the stab wounds.

Gambit was the first to snap out of the slightly impressed stupor and tore the tape off of The Professors mouth.

"_Bonjour,_" He said solidly as he charged the man's clothing. "I believe y' might have some information dat could be useful t' us, so, I suggest y' either tell Gambit what it is or prove 'm wrong before 'e decides that y' would look better scattered 'cross de room."

The Professor winced as the charge burned his skin and as Remy's glare bore into his eyes. You see, three blades pressed at your throat were a threat. Charging someone's clothes to explode was a promise. Also, when one was surrounded by a psychopathic maniac, a clawed feral animal, and a boyfriend in a _very _bad mood, it's just better to take the path of least resistance.

"I know some things that could be found useful." He allowed.

"Such as-." Gambit prompted with a bone-chilling smile.

"Such as they are using some of my technology to keep control over the girl."

"If you shut down thes 'technology' would she go back to being normal?" Kurt asked before Gambit could get in his next question.

"Almost immediately I would assume," The professor chuckled darkly. "If she were alive that is."

His clothing flared a brighter color.

"What d' y' mean?" Remy growled, his accent, thickened with anger, made his words almost impossible to pull apart.

"The amount of energy it would take to shut down the chip is impossible to replicate naturally for her to absorb," The man explained, awkwardly shifting around to keep in the least amount of contact with his clothing as he could. "The only way to shut it down would be to kill her."

His clothes started to fade away from the more vibrant side of the color spectrum.

_That's. Ridiculous. _Remy thought. _Absolutely, completely, ridiculous_. He paced around for a moment, charging his jacket for being so _stupid. _It burned at his skin hatefully.

"Gumbo," Wolverine bit off. "What are you doing?"

"Punishment." He snapped back, still pacing. He considered letting go of the jacket, but he wouldn't be able to make things right. Goddammit. The last time he had tried to 'make things right' he had ended up selling his soul to the devil. "." He repeated, this time out loud.

"Are we gonna kill Rogue?" Kitty asked, sniffing.

Remy laughed. An unexpected, slightly bitter laugh. Very quickly the laugh escalated to where he was rolling on the floor, clutching his sides (whether it was to keep his ribs intact from the force of his laughter or to maintain the magenta hue they had taken was a mystery to the X-men)(And Deadpool)((Who was actually not so much concerned with Gambit as the varying ways he could kill The Professor after Gambit was done laughing)

"Natural…Energy…" He gasped out between bouts of laughter. "Impossible… Amounts…"

"I think he has lost his mind." Storm said as they all watched the spectacle. Deadpool tried to sneak his way behind The Professor with a hunting knife while no one was looking.

"What are you babbling about-." Scott started, but then turned around sharply. "DEADPOOL PUT DOWN THE KNIFE."

All the X-men looked over their shoulders to watch Deadpool sigh dramatically and lower the knife from the screaming Professor's throat. When they turned back around, all they could see was the quickly disappearing tail of a glowing leather duster.

"Where is he going now?" Logan questioned harshly before following the trail of crackling energy, the X-men in hot pursuit as well.

Kitty ran back in, grabbed Deadpool, and then continued after Logan and Gambit.

-

The stuff going into her lungs was air.

The sky was blue.

The grass was green.

2+2=4.

The feeling throughout her body was called pain.

All were well and good, but what was her _name? _She couldn't remember for the life of her.

The brightness above her was called light. The people surrounding her were doctors. They were holding medical tools. The red stuff was called blood.

Where was she?

"Are we done?" A voice asked. Words. English. Loud.

"Almost, sir." Another voice answered. "The girl will be ready to be debriefed in a few moments." Respect. Fear. Regret.

Who was the girl? Was _she '_the girl'?

"Ready, sir." The same voice as before called out and she felt herself being eased into a semi-upright position, still strapped down firmly to the operating table.

"Do you understand the words that I am saying?." The slender man with black hair and thin glasses who seemed to be in charge of this little operation addressed her.

"Yes." She confirmed robotically.

"Do you know what you have been programmed to do?"

"Yes."

"Elaborate."

"First I am to disassemble the mutant group known as the X-men, collecting their powers and then submitting myself for their extraction. Then to other radical mutant groups, such as the Brotherhood and Acolytes. Again, I am to submit myself for their extraction and then my own termination." She replied by design.

"Beautiful." The man smiled evilly. "In the event of discovery you are to?"

"Self-terminate. Take as many others as I can with me."

"And in defeat?"

"Self-terminate."

"And in retreat?"

"There is no retreat. In the event of a situation that would call for retreat I am to self-terminate." The answer flew from her lips automatically, but despite that fact she knew that they were the right answers.

"Who is to stand in your way."

"There are no obstacles."

"When are you to set about this mission."

"As soon as physically possible."

"Perfect." His eyes flashed with success.

"I have a question." She said. The man seemed to be slightly surprised when she spoke. She used the same monotone she had when she was answering his questions which made the fact that she had spoken of her own will that much creepier.

"Yes?" He asked tentatively.

"Do I have a title?" She cocked her head to the side slightly with an animal curiosity.

"No." He snapped quickly.

"Understood." She nodded emotionlessly.

"Good." He snipped again, self-consciously readjusting his white lab coat. She caught the movement. Sign of weakness. Stress. Distrust. She systematically ran through an easy way to take this man out. He was very thin, his skin was tanned because of lineage not from actual exposure to the sun, the way he held himself clearly stated that he understood the boundaries of his role and wished not to over step them. He wouldn't even be a challenge.

It was in that man's best interest to loosen the restraints around her wrists and move out of her way before she did them both for him.

Good thing he was a smart man, "Let her go." He instructed the professionals at her side and they immediately loosened the bonds on her wrists.

She took a moment to categorize her muscles. Generally they were all stiff from being confined so long, sore from some sort of action she must have been doing, her neck in particular was sore and when she poked at it she discovered three little scabbed up holes. How odd. She took a deep breath and found that the right side of her chest was stiff and sore as well, like an old wound just healing up.

She knew from the maturity of her body that she had obviously not just come into existence. But, if not spontaneous generation of matter, then what? Where was she from? Who was she exactly?

"Disassemble the X- men." She repeated, giving herself a purpose. She balled up her fist. For some reason the sight of her naked fingers looked very odd to her. "There are no obstacles."


	24. Chapter 24

The easy buzz that usually accompanied the neighborhood was always a comfortable one. Even after it was discovered those Xavier freaks lived just down the hill. Neighbors went out to greet neighbors. Papers were retrieved with smiles and polite inquiries. Children played outside with each other. Lawns were watered almost daily.

There was a music to this street. The song of suburbia. It sounded of mowers, birds singing, children laughing, cars starting, bicycle wheels turning, and the occasional splash in a backyard pool.

Except for now.

Right now there was silence. Dead silence.

The girl walked barefoot down the centre of the street. All attention was on her.

Her legs were long and bare, stopping only when a pair of black cloth shorts interfered with anyone's view of them. Her arms were exposed as well, along with a good portion of her chest. The rest was hidden under a white tank top that appeared to be splattered with blood in some spots. Her posture was relaxed and poised, but it was very obvious to everyone the quick coil in the muscles underneath the flesh that were so ready to spring out in attack even the pets on the street kept their distance. He hips swung dangerously with the cautious ease of a predator.

Amongst everyone who had stopped and stared, there was no doubt where the girl with the odd streak in her hair was going.

Xavier's.

The smarter ones quickly retreated inside their homes and called their insurance companies.

-

Logan watched the boy shake in the corner as he was slowly realizing that that was all he was- a boy. Not the smartass bastard who sold out anyone and everyone for enough money he presented to the world, but the kid who was about to do something he was to afraid of to tell the X-men just to save a girl he couldn't touch.

They'd followed him back to the jet, where he finally agreed to uncharge his own jacket and about halfway through the trip had been convinced to relinquish control of the jet because his shaking was interfering with his ability to control effectively.

Logan's interest in the young man beyond trying to stab him was piqued. What was he going to do? Why was he going to do it? For some reason, perhaps it was the bit where he blew up the floor for her, or the part where he had crouched over her protectively in the face of an army, or maybe just the part where he had stood up to the Wolverine just to protect her, Logan felt like this boy would do anything for his 'girl'.

The jet shuddered slightly as it made contact with the ground.

"You alright, kid?" Logan tossed over his shoulder at Gambit.

"Y' call me kid again, y'll see just how alright I am." He snapped back, clenching his fists so that they would stop trembling.

Oh dear. First person… This _was _serious.

"We're at the mansion." Logan relayed. "Whatever you need to get done before we go find Rogue better get done fast."

"We won' need t' find 'er." His voice was slightly raspy with some sort of emotion. "I'd bet my soul she's already on her way." Logan snorted at the way he had phrased the statement, completely unaware that Remy planned to do exactly that.

-

Charles Xavier paced warily in the dirt. He lacked the mental capacity to fully comprehend the changes that kept sweeping across his world in the future. And, if _he _lacked the mental capacity, no one else would be able to even come close.

He should have been contacted by now.

The dirt shifted color and texture under his feet and became stone from some sort of wave of change from the past.

He continued to pace, unperturbed. This had been happening quite often since he had interfered. He just hoped that the way things were right now wouldn't stay as 'the way things were right now'.

The sky rippled for a moment, turning a bright blue, and then cascaded into a dark blackness. The trees wilted, and then regrew, flourishing.

The best that Xavier could figure was that the timeline was in a state of indecision on how it would end.

In a rare show of annoyance, Charles put his fingers to his temples and kneaded at the problems in his mind.

He should have been contacted by now.

Perhaps he had meddled to much? After all, the world was going to end one way or another, why had he felt the need to try and sway the universe out of it's own destruction?

Because he was. Charles. Xavier.

The world was going to have to try a lot harder to end itself so long as he was still alive. At this thought, he couldn't help but allow himself a small smile. The smile was full of pride. Pride for his work and his students. His X-men.

He shook of the smile.

He should have been contacted by now.

The ground under his feet shuddered again and thick, thriving grass and flowers took root and sprouted merrily as far as the eye could see. Another tremor hit the world. The grass browned. The flowers died. A vast, cold, broken desert took their place.

He should have been con-

There was a sort of pressure in the back of his mind.

_Finally. _

_-_

Remy taped his fingers on the edge of the containment (Bed? What was it exactly?) that Xavier's comatose body was kept in, waiting for some sort of reply to his mental plea.

It came almost immediately as an upright Professor Xavier was projected into the room on top of a endless white backdrop.

He was disoriented for a moment, not by the sudden change of scenery, but by the understanding smile of the elderly man's face.

"Er…" Remy started, not really sure how to start off a conversation when asking someone to turn you into a weapon. "Hello…"

"Hello, Mr. LeBeau. Is there anything I can do to assist you?" Xavier smiled.

"Yes and no…" Remy answered honestly. "Dere's somethin' y' can do to assist de rest o' de worl', but it won' really be helping' out Gambit none." He sighed heavily and then pointed to his temple. "Take it out."

Even though Xavier had been expecting the words, he couldn't help but be slightly shocked by them

-

She picked her way through the clutter of an obvious explosion. A couple of sliced up bodies here and there. She was so silent, if she hadn't been able to feel her muscles slide with movement she would have doubted her own existence. The little brunette and the blond young man were already unconscious on the lawn, done in swiftly and silently by her skin.

Weird snippits of memories that weren't hers flashed through her mind, but she forced them down so roughly and effectively that they all but disappeared.

What an odd ability she had. Both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was obviously beneficial in some walks of life to be impossible to touch, on the other hand… to not be able to touch…

She shrugged away her peculiar self pity and assured herself that whatever of a life she had before this had probably just been like being blind or deaf. Some sacrifices were sure to have been made, but life could still have been lived.

She doubted it, but it was a comforting thought nonetheless.

Not that being comforted was her first priority. That was to take down the X-men.

She crept into the mansion, taking out a lanky man with black hair and bionic limbs swiftly with an almost mechanical grace. His silent scream was stifled by her hand.

More memories…

She shoved those to the side as well as she abandoned his body and walked forward again. She had a mission. It was the only objective in her life and she planned to see it through.

-

Logan sniffed the air out of reflex when he walked down to the lower levels in search of Forge. What he got instead was a somewhat floral scent.

He paused for a moment, taking a more thorough sample of the atmosphere, but there was no mistaking that smell.

He took off at a sprint.

-

The limp figure of the white haired woman, the slumped form of the tall man with the visor, and collapsed body of the shadowed demon man were left behind as she continued to move forward.

-

"Remy," Xavier gave him a serious look. "There is no going back if I do. The choice is yours."

"I already made de choice." Remy looked down at the floor. Fear tugged at him.

Xavier nodded and put his hand up to Remy's forehead.

There was an explosion of white hot pain in the back of his mind.

-

The big furry blue man had tried to speak to her before she had touched him… She vaguely wondered what he had wanted to say to her. The man in the red mask had already been talking. She honestly was afraid to consider what he had had to say.

-

Logan crept around the corner, fully set in 'stalk' mode. The hunter.

The scent of magnolias and vanilla had been somewhat tainted by blood and medical smells, but was still recognizable. He listened intently to the world functioning around him. It was too silent. Apprehensive. He stayed in this crouched position for a long moment, waiting.

There was a padded foot fall behind him and his muscles, which had been coiled and ready to strike, reacted without the consult of his mind.

The girl ducked underneath his clawed fist with the agility of a wild cat. They both froze for a moment, Logan, because he couldn't move with his claws so far embedded into the wall and the girl because she was to curious about him to waste a still moment to study him.

"Kid," Logan jerked his muscles in an attempt to free himself, unsure if he was supposed to be happy to see her or terrified of the distance in her eyes.

She tilted her head to the side as if confused.

"Kid?" Her green eyes filled with curiosity. "Are you my father?"

Logan really didn't know how to answer that question. "Not exactly…" He allowed.

She considered this for a moment before nodding. "I apologize." She said while reaching out her hand for the bare part of his face.

He quickly tore his hand out of the walls clutches and pulled away from her grasp.

They froze again, unsure of what to do. The muscles in her legs and arms ached to be used to take him down, but something tickled at the memories she had just absorbed. Some of them were of her with this man, hugging, fighting, glaring, laughing, sparring.

She held her head. Was that her?

'_Don't trust that girl, Hank.' Logan growled at the large furry man. _

'_Funny… She said the same thing about you.'_

She clenched her fists.

Her purpose here took over again. Finite. Simple. Steal a piece of him and get out. Or die in the process.

She struck, aiming for the exposed arms. He deftly avoided her by rolling out of the way.

"Look, kid," He sounded like he was pleading with her. "You don't have to do this!" She swiped at him again. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"That makes one of us." She said monotonously.

Logan's resolve settled. That wasn't his 'kid'. That was a weapon. A weapon that needed to be destroyed. With a regretful growl, he unsheathed his claws again. Her eyes widened in momentary surprise, but it seemed like she catalogued the information and quickly returned to looking distant and controlled.

"I'm sorry, Anna." He looked down at the floor before he plunged his claws into her chest.

She gasped, not with the pain she had expected, but with an entirely different experience. It felt like floating. She very simply _walked _out of the claws in her chest.

She looked down at her hands.

_How many kinds of freak can one person be?_

The man growled at her and launched into another attack.

_Well, I guess it's time to find out. _She thought as she conjured some lightning in her fingers.

It's very interesting how well an adamantium skeleton can conduct electricity

-

Remy hit the ground as he was unceremoniously pushed back into reality. His gloves started to glow. He stripped them off. His shirt started to glow. The shirt had to go too.

The world around him buzzed with seductive potential.

The block that kept his powers in check was gone.

Well, fuck.

_This plan better goddamn work. _

-

Charles fell to the ground in his time, thrown there after all of the effort it had taken him to undo the mental block on Remy's powers.

With wide eyes he watched the world settle on a future.

-

_Heheh. :3 _


	25. Chapter 25

Her hips swiveled as she walked away from the charred body of a once-was man with the barely restrained danger of a wild animal. She cracked the knuckles in her fingers and rolled her shoulders so that her vertebrae released sickening snaps as well, relieving the tension pent in between her shoulders.

She gave one last glance at the feral man's body and vaguely wondered what his mutation had been.

He'd have to be one hell of a healer to bounce back from the little shock she had just given him.

What had he called her- Anna? It was a pretty name. But, it just didn't feel appropriate. Anna sounded like a sweet kid. Whatever _Anna _was now was far from sweet. So, she'd stay nameless. Anna didn't need to be remembered as the girl who took down mutants.

She shrugged and shook out the kinks in her arms and legs as she walked away. She paused at a closet in what used to be a hallway, where she stole a trench coat that looked like it had belonged to the visor guy, and thus dragged against the ground and fell over her fingers. She also snagged a pair of gloves that had three holes torn into the back and pair of black boots that were a good four sizes too big and had obviously been constructed for battle. No sense in taking out an entire train's worth of people in her travels.

X-men down, Brotherhood and Acolytes to go.

Unless, of course, she was completely forgetting someone.

The crashing sound of a small scale explosion echoed down the hallway to her left . She stopped dead. No. She hadn't forgotten anyone. There were eight X-men. She'd taken down nine.

In fact, if anything, she was overachieving today.

_We should go overachieve by the pantry… _She jumped slightly as a voice sounded in her head. She catalogued this among her abilities in stead of assuming she was insane. _I'm pretty sure they have some sugar cookies here. Personally, I prefer tacos, but sugar cookies are the breakfast of champions. _

_What? _She thought.

_Don't mind him, Deadpool just likes to talk. You should probably get a telepath to take care of him. _Another voice called. Great. Not only did she have voices in her head, but there was more than one.

Her muscles tensed again as she chose to ignore the voices, which were now arguing about the dietary destitute one would encounter if they ate sugar cookies for breakfast and followed the sound of destruction down the hall.

-

Remy fell out of the elevator and made sharp contact with the ground. The hard wood started to glow violently with the contact it was making with his exposed upper body.

"_Merde!" _He planted his hands firmly on the wood and -with an effort- pulled back the charge. He shakily returned to his standing position. "Jus' don't touch anything'… or get close to… or look at…" He reminded himself in almost a whine.

He hated this part. He really did.

Closing his eyes solidly and keeping a firm grip on his trousers so as to pull the accidental charge that kept leaking into them, he navigated the mansion out of the memory of the blueprints.

His skin burned with unused energy. It rolled off of him in waves. So long as he kept moving and out of direct contact with anything nothing should spontaneously blow up… _should _being the operative word there, but lately Remy had noticed a trend in his life where what 'should' happen and what 'does' happen differ slightly.

Like what 'should' happen is that he should survive long enough to get the girl and live happily ever after. What was going to happen was that he was going to accidentally blow himself up if said girl didn't show up in the next four minutes.

Remy tripped over a soft mass laid out on the ground that he was positive hadn't been there before. In a blur of limbs and curses he pulled the charge simultaneously out of the object, the floor, and his own pants.

What the hell did he just trip over?

Cautiously, Remy opened his eyes.

Well… shit.

It was Deadpool. It took a good little knock to get Deadpool to shut up.

"_Merde, merde, merde!" _He cursed as Deadpool's body started to glow under his stare. He put a hand on his back and absorbed the burn. Why? …He actually wasn't quite sure after he was done uncharging him. Deadpool's healing factor could take a little explosion.

Now he just felt silly.

Remy shrugged his shoulders slightly and stood up.

"AH!" He cried out in shock, tried to uncharge his pants again, stumbled into the wall, leant his shoulder into the wall to uncharge that as well, fell back down to the ground and finally managed to get everything back to its original color and state of dormancy. He righted himself and backed up slowly, so as not to agitate any further wrath from his burning skin… right into a vase.

"God. Dammit."

The little vase turned slightly pink before he could suck the energy out of it.

_Bang!_

Remy clutched his stomach where a shard of once-was vase lodged itself, the issue there being that just because it was taking up residence in his skin doesn't mean that it wouldn't explode. In fact, it would just make a bigger, more gory, bang.

The most grotesque, vile curses he could think of ran over his tongue as he dug a burning piece of pottery out of his burning skin in the middle of a soon-to-be-burning hallway. The power that he had wanted to be rid of built up inside of his chest.

It all concentrated in a smoldering feeling in the center of his chest that made it hard for him to breathe. It wasn't so much the pressure of the energy being stored, but the fear that he was going to lose control of it -that it was going to eat him alive- that forced him to keep moving. He had to finish this before it got out of control.

He stumbled forward.

-

She crept up silently behind him as he blundered forward. His eyes were shut so tight it looked painful… in fact, he just looked in pain. That, however, could be awarded to the bleeding wound just below his rib cage.

A little part of her wanted to reach out and comfort him. She didn't. That would have been illogical.

The voice in her head started singing 'Do you wanna touch me' and she grunted with annoyance.

The man stopped.

"_Cherie?" _The word came out as a rasp. French.

She found that she understood English and German very well, but French escaped her. Was he addressing her or just making a statement?

"I'm sorry?" She said. She genuinely wanted to know what he was communicating.

He leaned against a wall, one hand pressed flat against the wall, the other wrapped around the bleeding hole in his abdomen, and did something with his lips that looked like a pout.

"Y'r accent's gone." He mumbled.

"I had an accent?" The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. One of the people inside of her head threw a memory at her.

"_Ah swear tah Jesus, if Ah get hit with anothah dart-." The man with the visor watched her clutch her neck, held upright by the grip around her waist the other man had. _

"My Mississippi river rat." He smirked affectionately.

"Yours?" She tilted her head despite the fact that he still couldn't see her.

"No…" He sighed. "Not mine. Y' weren't mine. I don' deserve y'."

_The look on his face as he pinned his hands to the ground held so much emotion, the little brunette girl couldn't even begin to comprehend it. The floor glowed a violent pink. _

"Aren't you going to run from me? Fight me? Something?" All of the other mutants had made to get away from her or fight her off, obviously aware of her intentions. He didn't move.

"_Non." _He said weakly. "I've been waitin' for y'."

_He was shaking in the back of the plane. The blue demon-like man watched him, concerned. What was he going to do this time? What was he going to sacrifice to get the girl back again?_

"Why?" Her head tilted still farther.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. She gasped.

In the short amount of time she had been given to take in a develop new information and memories of her own she had leaned enough to be positive that she would never encounter anything as beautiful as this man's eyes.

Her objective tugged at her, but she was otherwise preoccupied at the moment.

The red and black eyes that he had revealed to her scanned her in a way that suggested her was trying to commit something to memory. _Her. _He was trying to commit _her _to memory.

"Dere was dis bad man, y'see," He started, closing his eyes again. "An' he told me dat de only way t' get _ma cherie _back was with 'impossible amounts of natural energy'. At de time I had a good damn amount of natural energy dat she could absorb naturally, but not 'impossible' amounts. As fate would have it, because as we all know, _sort est une grosse chienne*, _the only thing I could do t' save her was t' undo the very same damn thing that got me into this mess. It nearly killed me the first time. It's absolutely going to kill me now." And the truth of his words rang out. He was going to die. For his '_cherie'. _

She didn't understand.

"I don't understand."

No sense in complicating emotions.

"You, Rogue. 'm doin' dis f'r you."

Rogue - unorthodox and unpredictable: acting independently and using unorthodox methods that are unpredictable and are likely to cause trouble.

Now _that _was appropriate.

"Why?" She -Rogue- asked again, wishing his eyes were open so that she could look into them.

The people in her head bombarded her with memories. They were about them. Every move he had made around her, every smirk, every glance. Every time he had come sprinting to her rescue.

She already knew the answer before he said it.

"_Je t'aime." _He mumbled as he took a step forward and pulled her into a kiss. She had no problem understanding his meaning this time.

_I love you. _

She felt the pull of her mutation kicking in, only this time it was so much different. She absorbed the energy that was exuding from him and none of his personality. Some of his stronger emotions leaked through. Fear, anxiety, adoration, longing, want, need, love. But, where she had pulled out the other's souls after their energy was spent, there was to much energy in him for her to absorb.

He cradled her face with his hands, holding her close to him as he gently expressed his love with his kiss. Stunned at first to much to react, slowly her physical reaction was purely based on instinct. She pulled him closer and laced her fingers into his hair.

Her emotional response took a little more explanation. Love was a useless emotion. Watch it in action now. This man was giving up his life to save the girl he loved who couldn't even remember his real name. At the same time, she wished with all of her heart she could. Most of all, she didn't want to push away what he was offering. Love. It was an appealing emotion. She would have stayed in his arms for the rest of eternity if she could have managed, but had to push him away when her skin started burning.

"Ah!" She screamed with pain, arching her back and clawing at the concentration of the burning sensation in her lower back, at the base of her spine.

"_Merde!" _The man cursed in French, he opened his eyes and they both shared a stunned half a second to see that he was still conscious.

Her clothes started glowing pink.

He yanked off the jacket and started to unchargeit, but it was already to late for the rest of her clothes and whatever it was that was lodged under her skin. In a last ditch effort to keep that man out of harm's way, she pushed him roughly away from her and her burning skin.

It was seconds before the burning turned into actual fire.

-

Logan woke up and found that he couldn't feel his body. Which wasn't odd considering he was just shot with lightning. Hell, he should be freaking ecstatic to be able to form a thought coherent enough to realize that he couldn't feel his body.

He stayed on the ground where he had fallen until his muscles and nerves healed enough that he could successfully command them again.

Eventually, he stood.

"Ah!" A familiar voice screamed with so much concentrated pain that Logan couldn't help but wince.

"_Merde!" Another familiar voice. Logan took off at a sprint in that direction. …An effort that was greatly hindered when he was blown back several meters by an explosion. _


	26. Chapter 26

_It's like the words were congealed in the back of my brain and just got infected there. (…That might be the most disgusting description of writers block I have ever read, let alone written…) It was like I couldn't write _anything _until I got this down. THIS CHAPTER HATES ME! _

_Anyway, here's cheers to you not destroying my soul after you read this!_

_-_

His vision swam in front of him and there was a ringing in his ears.

Consciousness is such a weird state of mind.

Or, at least Remy LeBeau thought so.

Yeah, sure, his head hurt. Yeah, sure there was a spot below his ribs that was searing with pain. Yeah, _sure, _he was covered with mild burn marks- All of which were indicators that he was alive and awake, but if he were _actually _alive and _actually _awake the hardwood floor pressed against his bare skin would be burning with excess energy, just about ready to send him on a one way trip to meet his maker.

But, when this particular Cajun groaned himself awake, it was with the understanding that either was hallucinating very badly and he was about to die, that he was already dead and still hallucinating like a druggie, or that he was alive, _not dead, not _about to blow himself up, _not _about to own up for his *ahem* questionable pursuits through out his lifetime.

The first two were more believable.

"_Merde…" _He muttered to himself as he dragged his excessively bleeding torso off of the ground. The ground maintained its normal color.

So long as Rogue was alright it was worth it.

His head started to spin and the edges of his vision started to go black as he waited out for some sort of white light.

…just so long as she was okay…

"Goddammit, Anna Marie!"

Remy perked back up. The hell?

"Rogue!" The same voice called out. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

Remy promptly decided that dying- or whatever it was that he was about to do- could wait. Scrambling to get his bearings, he looked around wildly as he brought himself into a semi upright position, still hunched over slightly in pain.

Rogue- _his _Rogue - was still down for the count. The Wolverine was leaning over her burned, bloody form

"_Merde!" _He repeated. Then the thought that had been bugging him since he reentered this 'conscious' baloney nagged at him again. _HOW THE HELL WAS HE STILL ALIVE?_

"You!" The Wolverine turned around to snarl at him, sparing a moment away from the girl in his arms. "What did you do to her!" His bare hand was laid out against her bare face. Considering that Rogue wasn't awake and Logan wasn't asleep, Remy guessed she wasn't absorbing him.

"Move!" Remy barked, shoving him out of the way. For a moment he was distracted by the drying blood on the tatters of shirt over the abused flesh that was Rogue, but quickly shook himself out of it.

How was he even still alive? And she, Rogue, faring so much worse?

Remy rubbed his hands together and when he pulled them apart a few controlled pink sparks snapped between them.

_Controlled. _

He snorted with disbelief and tried it again.

Again, the crackle of energy was completely under his control.

_What?_

"Gambit!" Logan called his attention back to reality. "Whattrya gonna do, Gumbo?" He snarled what Remy interpreted as a concerned question.

"A parlor trick." One that had worked on him already twice in the event of a poisoning and accidental shooting.

Taking a deep breath, he clapped his hands together, creating more sparks and very quickly splayed out his fingers directly over where Rogue's heart was.

There's nothing quite like a good jolt of kinetic energy to get the heart pumping again.*

Her back arched as her eyes flew open and she sucked in a painful breath. Remy let himself be shoved out of the way by Wolverine in his jump to help her along in the healing process, abandoning the absolute control of his movement to gravity.

His head hit the floor.

_Now _she was alive and well. _Now _he could die.

He raised his hands in front of his face slowly.

_Shit _that was a lot of blood.

None of it was Rogue's…

"_Merde…" _He mumbled for the third time upon his arrival into the realm of 'consciousness' in the land of the 'living'. You know what sounded good right now? Sleep.

His eyes started drooping.

Sleep sounded fantastic.

He started to lose track of the world and the voices around him.

Sleep sounded like heaven.

"Swamp rat!" There was a good, southern slap right across his face. His eyes flew open to see a very irate Rogue standing above him, wrapped in the trench coat he had salvaged before she had blown up with one hand raised to strike again. "Don' yah dare start dyin' on meh!" She snarled.

"I wasn' gon' die," He mumbled as he smiled up at her, eyes drooping again. Golly, she was pretty when she was mad. "Honest."

He received a second slap.

"Owie," He yowled.

"I don' wanna hear it!" She snapped. "Yah saved mah life too many times in tha last _five hours _fohr me tah jus' stand here an' watchya bleed yahself inta an early grave." She grabbed his arm and hoisted him into an upright position, fully ignoring his groaning complaints and pulled his arm over her own shoulder so that she could walk with him.

"What 'bout 'im?" Remy tried to nod his head to the laid out figure of the Wolverine, only to make some sort of sloppy lolling motion in which his face miraculously found itself closer to Rogue's.

"He'll be fine in an hour or two." She smiled at him and then did something that shocked even the likes of Remy LeBeau.

She leaned her forehead into his.

He looked down and saw that the same hands that she had just slapped him with were wrapped around his very bare torso, also very bare. Upon the next few moments it took his sleep deprived, pain laden mind to work out the details, he saw that his pants weren't about to blow up.

Upon further review, although the other facts were nice, it would have been much more beneficial in the long run to know that one first.

"How?" He finally rasped out, taking her bare hand in his.

"Sugah," She smiled at him. "I can absorb a lot of energy, but I can't absorb _impossible _amounts of energy. Just kinda take the edge off of it."

"An' I ain't blowin' up everythin' I touch!" He grinned. This was great! This was _fantastic! _

"It would appear so." She smirked right back at him.

"_And,_" He added with his own, much more devious smirk. "I can touch _you._"

Let the woman draw what conclusions she must.

Apparently, the conclusions she was drawing weren't far from the conclusions he was implying because she gave him an impish smile.

"Yah know what, swamp rat?" She grinned at him. "I don't think I would mind that too much, yah know why?"

It took a few moments for the shock factor of that sentence to lose itself on Remy before he answered hesitantly, suspecting a trap. "Why?"

"_Je t'aime trop," _She pulled him into a kiss. _I love you too. _

Huh, and you know, he almost considered dying a minute ago.

_-_

Logan woke up for the second time that day sprawled out on the hardwood ground where he had fallen. He immediately shot up and looked around wildly for Rogue to see If his touch had actually saved her life after the Cajun went down.

Only problem… Rogue wasn't there anymore.

And neither was the Cajun.

Both of which were bad news.

He stood on shaky legs and sniffed the air for a moment. Blood. Burnt skin and clothing. There was a trail of the smell down the hallway to the elevator. He started to follow it when-

"Logan, buddy!"

God. Damn. All.

"Deadpool." Logan snorted in response.

"Did you know you guys have the most fantastic sugar cookies in your pantry?" The masked maniac asked, wiping at some crumbs on his mask. "Whatcha doin'?" He asked as Logan tried to catch up the trail again.

Logan was about to spit out a crippling retort when-

"Logan!"

No, seriously. God damn them all to hell.

"Scott, Ororo, Kurt, Katherine, Bobby, Hank, Forge." He greeted the new group of followers the same way he had Deadpool.

"Where are Rogue and Gambit?" Kitty asked loudly, eyes wide with fear. Bobby smoothly wraped his arm around her.

"Is that blood?" Kurt looked at the ground.

"Are these burn marks?" Scott inspected the walls.

"Logan? Why is all of the hair on your body singed?" Ororo poked at his arm.

"Hey you guys, want some sugar cookies?" Deadpool held out a box of frosted sugar cookies.

"Oh, yeah." Bobby grabbed one and stuffed it in his face.

"How can you be eating when Rogue and Gambit are missing?" Kitty accused and punched Bobby.

"If Rogue and Gambit were missing, don't you Logan would be a helluva lot more pissed?" Bobby rubbed the now bruising part of his shoulder.

His words sunk in and everyone turned to look at the Wolverine in unison.

Logan felt his eye start twitching.

"Heheh…" Kitty coughed awkwardly. "Right…"

"Answers-" Logan started off brusquely. "1- I don't know, 2- Yes, 3- Very much Yes, 4- Lightning, 5-No, god dammit, put the sugar cookies away and stay out of the garage, 6- Screw Bobby's need to feed constantly, and 7- I _am _pissed." He glared at all of them.

"What now, bossman?" Deadpool asked while stuffing the rest of the cookies down his shirt and discarding the empty box.

Logan took a deep breath. "_Now, _I'm going to find Rogue and Gambit by following the lovely trail of blood the Cajun tracked on the carpet." He pointed down at the smudged line of blood that led down the hallway.

There was a chorus of 'ooooh's.

Kitty raised her hand hesitantly.

"Yes, you can come too." Logan put his forehead in his palm.

"Yeah!" Kitty whooped and then tore off down the hallway, following the blood.

Everyone hesitantly followed after her through the hallway, down the elevator, and to the med bay.

"Awww!" Kitty crooned when they all reached the med bay.

Gambit was laid out on one of the hospital beds, his side and several burn marks had been taped up and tended to, and Rogue was curled up into his side, bare face resting against bare chest as they both slept. The steady rise and fall of Gambit's chest indicated that this held no issue.

"Should we wake them up?" Scott wondered out loud.

Logan sighed and decided that he could kill the Cajun later.

"Nah," He mumbled, running a hand over his face. "If anyone deserves a nap, it's those two."

"Ya know," Kitty wandered over to Gambit's side and poked at his chest. "A guy doesn't get wounds like this from just standing around, waiting for money."

"True," Hank mused, knowing where she was going with this. "In fact, I would say that that boy has been fairly active over the past, say, twelve hours." He commented.

Logan groaned.

Bobby caught on.

"Yeah," The younger kid smirked, running a hand coolly through his blond hair. "In fact, I'm pretty sure he'd do anything for Rogue."

Scott and Ororo smiled to each other.

"I would have to agree." Scott grinned. "There was absolutely zero money involved."

"Yes," Ororo curved her lips mischievously. "It seems that he did the right thing for no reason other than his adoration of a girl."

Kurt grinned now as well, understanding where this was going as well

"In fact," He rocked back on his heels jovially. "Not only did he save her life, but he helped take down three of the organizations the X-men stand against most."

Forge looked at all of them.

"I don't get it…"

Logan glared at all of them in disbelief.

"JESUS CHRIST, WOLVIE!" Deadpool burst, excess sugar cookies flying from his person as he struck a dramatic pose. "JUST GIVE THE MAN AN X-BADGE OR SOMETHING!"

Logan muttered something about 'conspiracy' as he made his way to the bedside table of the hospital bed and slammed down a little communicator shaped like an 'x'.

Rogue mumbled something in her sleep and snuggled closer to Remy, who in turn, unconsciously moved his arm tighter around her.

"AWW!" Deadpool and Kitty giggled in unison.

-

_In the not too distant future._

Charles Xavier stood on the plush green lawn of the Xavier Institute sometime in the future and his eyes welled with misty tears of pride and joy. The children out and about laughed and played with each other, openly displaying mutations in the midst of their sport without fear and showing extraordinary amounts of control for children their age.

A red playground ball rolled to his feet.

With an amused smile, he bent over to pick it up and then looked around for the owner.

A little girl shyly walked up to him.

"I'm sorry, sir." She stared down at her feet in the reserved way of a child. "But I was wondering if I could have my ball back."

"Of course, child." He knelt down to her eyes level so as to return the ball back to her civilly.

"Thank you." She grinned at him, finally looking up to reveal a pair of green on black eyes from underneath a curtain of white bangs.

-

_Come on everybody- all in unison - awww! It was the most adorable ending I could think of! _

*_damage to the heart, smamage to the heart, that what we have Wolverine for (he had to be good for something) _

_My oh my! Jamie didn't explain where Sinister went, did she? BAHAHAHA! Seeya all _IF (And I do mean a very large, resounding -IF-) _I get into sequel mode for this. Probably not…. I'd very much like some sleep sometime in the 'not too distant future' (heh) _

_IT'S BEEN FUN! _


End file.
